Lorenzo Fertitta: UFC's top fighters 'are making multi-millions of dollars'

This was a big year for the UFC, both from a fighting standpoint and financially. After a 2014 which saw one PPV cancelled and several others injury-riddled and otherwise under-performing, 2015 saw gate and attendance records broken, as well as big buyrates for cards headlined by Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor.

In an interview with CNN, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta talked about the company's finances and said that this was a record-breaking year in terms of revenue generated. (Transcription via FOX Sports)

"Because we are a private company we don't get into profitability but we'll generate about $600 million in revenue in the year 2015, which is a record for the company," Fertitta revealed. "It's fairly significant growth coming off of 2014.

In part 3 of John Nash's Bloody Elbow special report on the UFC's finances, he estimated $522 million in revenue for 2014. However, as the article noted, "unlike the other years which end on December 31 these last two cover the Last Twelve Months ending on September 30. This means there is a three month overlap between the 2012 and 2013's revenue total."

More: What do we know about the UFC's finances?

As usual, the subject of fighter pay was brought up in the interview. He did not reveal what percentage of the revenue is going to the fighters on the roster, but did stress that the top fighters in the sport are making several million dollars, and their payment structure is not different from other sports.

"The fact of the matter is our top athletes are making multi-millions of dollars and what is happening as the sport grows and the compensation goes up along as revenue goes up, you're starting to see that the guys and girls at the top are commanding a larger share of that pie," Fertitta said.

"I think you see that in just about every sport, in every business," Fertitta said. "It's the athletes that make a difference that people want to pay for, they're commanding the big dollars."

When asked about this same topic earlier in the month, Fertitta told reporters that "fighter pay has continued to increase every single year that we've owned the company."