For the third year in a row, UFC’s trip to Newark, New Jersey, comes at a multi-million dollar price tag for the hosting state.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) set aside $5 million of its 2025 budget to “assist the Prudential Center in Newark in securing and hosting” UFC 316, per board meeting minutes posted by the government organization late last year. The development was first noticed by X users Goalvacevic and Robert Joyner and has since been verified by Knockdown News.
An allocation of funds for hosting UFC cards wasn’t previously a foreign idea for New Jersey. The NJSEA paid an identical amount of $5 million last year to host UFC 302, headlined by Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.
A year before then, the state paid $3.5 million to present UFC 288, which saw bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling take on Henry Cejudo.
While specific details regarding where the money went weren’t specified, it’s likely that most of it was put toward paying a site fee to host a pay-per-view card.
In recent years, UFC has become increasingly focused on obtaining upfront cash payments to host events around the world. This has allowed them to obtain huge payouts from spots like Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and domestically also in New Jersey.
“When we take the show on the road, we’re going to need subsidies and/or cash to bring our events to your city,” Mark Shapiro, president of UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings, when talking about their site fee strategy.
UFC 316 is currently set for June 7th, headlined by a bantamweight clash between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. A title fight between Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison is also set for the co-main event spot.
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