Retired MMA legend Georges St-Pierre says the UFC's new broadcast deal with Paramount could be "terrible" for fighters.
The UFC announced on Monday it had signed a seven-year deal with Paramount which would bring most pay-per-views to an end in the US - with events appearing on Paramount's streaming service or on CBS TV network.
The deal is reportedly worth more than £700m a year, or £5.7bn in total, an incredible increase from the £370m five-year deal the UFC had with ESPN previously.
St-Pierre, a two-weight UFC champion and an all-time great, questioned where the deal leaves fighters - especially those who negotiated a cut of pay-per-view sales.
"It could be good for the UFC, as a promoter, [but] terrible for the fighters because when I was competing I was able to have a great argument to negotiate on my contract," St-Pierre told Covers.
"I could tell the UFC, 'hey, if you want me to do all the promotion, I want to become a partner. I want a piece of the pie to negotiate a part of the pay-per-view revenue'.
"Because if I'm doing all the promotion, I'm helping you, but you need to help me. You need to make me a partner.
"So it might be a bad thing for the fighters in a way that they have less leverage [to negotiate more money]."
Jake Paul, who has publicly feuded with UFC president Dana White over fighter pay since swapping YouTube for boxing, said athletes now have a "clear picture" of what the UFC's revenue is.
"No more PPV excuses. Get your worth boys and girls," he added.
The biggest stars like Ronda Rousey, St-Pierre and Jon Jones were often given 'PPV points' on top of their fight purse, allowing them to take a cut of the overall sales from any fight night they were involved with.
