Quick answer: published athletic commission pay scales put UFC referee fees between $160 and $2,000 per assignment. California pays $350 to $650 for a standard professional MMA event and a $1,900 minimum for referees on recognized world championship bouts. New York pays up to $2,000 for a referee assigned to a main or title bout when the combined purses reach $1 million, which is the highest referee fee published in any US commission schedule. Referees are not paid per fight: GrapplerHQ analyzed 448 bout assignments across 50 Nevada MMA events in official commission records and found referees work an average of 2.9 bouts per event. Herb Dean refereed 39 bouts across 13 Nevada events in 2025 — exactly three bouts at every event. At the highest published rate in the country, that volume is worth roughly $26,000 a year from Nevada assignments, not the $250,000 to $500,000 widely repeated online.
Last updated: July 21, 2026. This guide compiles the officials’ pay scales published by US athletic commissions and adds an original dataset of referee assignments taken from Nevada Athletic Commission event records. Every figure is sourced to a primary document. Where a number cannot be verified, this page says so rather than repeating an estimate.
How much do UFC referees make?
There is no single “UFC referee salary.” Referees are licensed and assigned by state athletic commissions, not employed by the UFC, and each commission sets or approves its own fee scale. The promoter funds those fees under the rules of the jurisdiction. That means the honest answer is a range, and the range is published.
The table below is the summary view. Detailed per-state tables follow.
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| Jurisdiction | Standard professional MMA referee fee | Championship / main-event referee fee |
|---|---|---|
| New York (NYSAC) | $350 to $1,200 by combined purse | $450 to $2,000 by combined purse |
| California (CSAC) | $350 to $650 by net gate | $1,900 minimum, world championship |
| Washington (WAC 36-14-120) | $160 to $400 by gate | $200 to $475 main event |
| Georgia | $300 head referee, purse up to $50,000 | Not separately published |
| Nevada (NSAC) | No fee schedule published | $1,900 documented for one 2021 main event |
Nevada is the significant gap. It hosts more UFC events than any other jurisdiction and publishes no officials’ pay scale at all.
UFC referee pay by state athletic commission
New York: the most detailed published MMA scale
The New York State Athletic Commission publishes the most granular professional MMA fee schedule in the country, adopted by commission vote in November 2016 and implemented in July 2017. Fees scale across six tiers of combined purse. Figures in brackets are the rate for an official assigned to a main or title bout.
| Combined purses | Referee | Judge | Timekeeper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $49,999 | $350 ($450) | $200 ($300) | $200 |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | $450 ($600) | $250 ($400) | $200 |
| $100,000 to $249,000 | $500 ($800) | $350 ($600) | $300 |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | $900 ($1,200) | $500 ($800) | $300 |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | $1,000 ($1,600) | $700 ($1,200) | $400 |
| $1,000,000 or more | $1,200 ($2,000) | $1,000 ($1,600) | $400 |
New York defines combined purse as the combined total of the largest contracted purse amounts of the two opponents, before deductions. Officials living within 100 miles of the venue also receive a $50 travel allowance and a $50 meal allowance on top of the fee. Beyond 100 miles, the promoter arranges round-trip travel and lodging and pays $50 per day for meals. If the promoter cancels the event, each official receives $100 plus reimbursement of any travel already incurred.
California: the clearest championship benchmark
The California State Athletic Commission publishes a single pay scale covering all events. Standard professional MMA rates are set by net gate.
| Net gate | Referee | Judge | Timekeeper |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 to $50,000 | $350 | $300 | $300 |
| $50,001 to $100,000 | $450 | $350 | $350 |
| Above $100,000 | $650 | $550 | $400 |
| Regional championship | $600 | $500 | $400 |
| World championship, including UFC | $1,900 | $1,600 | $500 |
California also reimburses mileage at $0.62 per mile for round-trip travel from the official’s residence, and provides a hotel room plus a $46 daily meal allowance for events more than 100 miles away. Officials receive $100 if the promotion cancels the event.
Washington: the only scale that separates prelims from main events
Washington’s administrative code is the only schedule found that pays a referee differently for preliminary and main-event bouts, which makes it useful for understanding how card position affects pay.
| Gate | Referee, preliminary | Referee, main event | Judge | Timekeeper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 to $30,000 | $160 | $200 | $115 | $115 |
| $30,000 to $75,000 | $220 | $275 | $150 | $150 |
| $75,000 and above | $400 | $475 | $200 | $200 |
For title fights, Washington pays officials at the sanctioning organization’s prevailing scale, but never below these minimums.
Georgia and Nevada
Georgia’s rules set a head referee fee of $300 for shows where the gross aggregate purse does not exceed $50,000, with a secondary referee and each judge at $150. The promoter must pay no later than the weigh-in, by cashier’s check or money order.
Nevada publishes no officials’ pay scale. Its referee application states only that a referee is not paid a salary or provided benefits and is compensated at the conclusion of each event, with the range varying by fiscal year. The one figure on the public record comes from the commission’s July 2021 meeting, where Herb Dean’s fee for the UFC 264 main event was set at $1,900, with judges at $1,600. Dean later remarked that he had expected more, noting that boxing referees at that level earn around $25,000.
Are UFC referees paid per fight or per event?
Per event. This is the single most common error in online referee salary articles, and it inflates every estimate built on top of it.
Commission schedules describe an assignment, and one official works several bouts on the same card. To measure how many, GrapplerHQ downloaded every mixed martial arts show-results document published by the Nevada Athletic Commission for 2025 and 2026 to date and counted the referee named on each individual bout. The records are redacted for purses but not for official assignments.
Across 50 events and 448 bout assignments involving 19 referees, the average referee worked 2.9 bouts per event. Not one referee in the sample averaged fewer than two.
So a headline like “referees earn $1,900 per fight” describes something that does not happen. A referee assigned to a Nevada UFC card is paid for the assignment and typically works about three bouts on it. California makes this explicit: a referee assigned to a world championship bout may also be asked to work up to two undercard bouts.
How much does Herb Dean make?
Herb Dean’s total annual income has never been published, and no UFC contract, tax record or commission disclosure states it. What can now be documented is how much work he actually does and what the published rates for that work are.
| Herb Dean, Nevada commission records | Figure |
|---|---|
| Events worked, 2025 full year | 13 |
| Bouts refereed, 2025 full year | 39 |
| Bouts per event, 2025 | Exactly 3 at every event |
| Events worked, 2026 to July 11 | 9 |
| Bouts refereed, 2026 to July 11 | 25, all on UFC cards |
| Title bouts, 2025 to July 2026 | 3 |
| Documented fee, UFC 264 main event | $1,900 |
Dean worked 13 Nevada events in 2025 and refereed exactly three bouts at each one. Applying the highest referee fee published anywhere in the United States, the $2,000 New York main or title rate, that workload is worth about $26,000. Applying California’s $1,900 world championship rate gives roughly $24,700. Applying California’s standard $650 rate gives about $8,450.
Those figures cover Nevada assignments only. Dean also referees in other states, for other promotions and at international events, and earns income from seminars, training and other work that no commission record captures. His true annual total is higher than the Nevada figure and remains private.
What the records do establish is that the widely repeated claim of $250,000 to $500,000 a year does not survive contact with the documented workload. At 13 events a year, that claim requires a per-event fee of $19,230 to $38,461 — roughly ten to twenty times the highest rate any US athletic commission publishes. The $500,000 figure is not merely unverified. It is arithmetically implausible.
How many events do UFC referees actually work?
The table below covers every referee assignment in Nevada mixed martial arts events from January 2025 through July 11, 2026, compiled from commission show-results documents. UFC bouts are those on cards promoted by Zuffa, LLC.
| Referee | Total bouts | Events | Bouts per event | UFC bouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Tognoni | 98 | 35 | 2.8 | 69 |
| Mark Smith | 71 | 25 | 2.8 | 43 |
| Herb Dean | 64 | 22 | 2.9 | 55 |
| Kerry Hatley | 43 | 14 | 3.1 | 35 |
| Jason Herzog | 40 | 14 | 2.9 | 34 |
| Mike Beltran | 30 | 11 | 2.7 | 23 |
| Keith Peterson | 22 | 7 | 3.1 | 19 |
| John McCarthy | 18 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 |
| Marc Goddard | 16 | 7 | 2.3 | 16 |
| Eric McMahon | 16 | 6 | 2.7 | 12 |
| Dan Miragliotta | 9 | 3 | 3.0 | 9 |
Two patterns stand out. First, the highest-volume referees are not the most famous ones: Chris Tognoni and Mark Smith worked far more bouts than Marc Goddard. Second, volume and prestige are different currencies. Goddard drew the most title-bout assignments in the period with six, ahead of Mark Smith on four and Herb Dean on three, while working a fraction of the total bouts.
What does a UFC referee earn in a year?
No commission publishes annual earnings, so any yearly figure is a model rather than a salary. The model below is built from documented assignment volume multiplied by published fee scales, with every assumption stated. It uses a workload of 13 events a year, which matches Herb Dean’s 2025 record.
| Rate applied | Source of rate | 13 events |
|---|---|---|
| $650 per event | California standard, net gate above $100,000 | $8,450 |
| $1,200 per event | New York, top purse tier, non-title | $15,600 |
| $1,900 per event | California world championship minimum | $24,700 |
| $2,000 per event | New York, top purse tier, main or title bout | $26,000 |
A realistic band for a top-tier referee working a single major jurisdiction is therefore roughly $8,450 to $26,000 a year, and the upper end is deliberately generous because it assumes every event is paid at the highest championship rate in the country, which no referee achieves.
Referees who work several states, multiple promotions and international events will earn more than this. Referees working regional cards will earn considerably less: on Washington’s scale, a preliminary assignment on a small show pays $160. Neither group is earning a six-figure income from officiating fees alone, which is why most MMA referees hold other jobs.
UFC referee pay compared with judge pay
Referees and judges are separate officials. The referee works inside the cage, enforces the rules and decides when a bout is stopped. Judges score the contest from outside the cage using the ten-point must system explained in our guide to how UFC fights are scored. Referees are paid more at every published tier.
| Assignment | Referee | Judge | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| California, world championship | $1,900 | $1,600 | $300 |
| California, net gate above $100,000 | $650 | $550 | $100 |
| New York, $1m+ purses, main or title | $2,000 | $1,600 | $400 |
| New York, under $49,999 | $350 | $200 | $150 |
| Washington, $75,000+ gate, main event | $475 | $200 | $275 |
| Nevada, UFC 264 (documented) | $1,900 | $1,600 | $300 |
Why online UFC referee salary estimates disagree
- Per fight and per event get confused. Referees are paid per assignment and work about three bouts on it, so multiplying a fee by the number of bouts on a card overstates pay roughly threefold.
- Salary aggregators are guessing. Job sites list “UFC referee” salaries derived from generic occupational data, not commission records. There is no UFC referee payroll for them to sample.
- Licence fees get reported as pay. Minnesota’s statute lists $25 for referees, judges and timekeepers. That is a fee the official pays for a license, not compensation received.
- Championship rates are treated as standard. California’s $1,900 applies to recognized world title bouts, not to every card.
- Jurisdictions differ enormously. A main-event referee earns $200 in Washington on a small show and up to $2,000 in New York on a championship card.
- Estimates cite each other. The $250,000 to $500,000 range now circulating traces back through blogs and aggregators to no primary document at all.
Frequently asked questions
How much do UFC referees make per fight?
Referees are not paid per fight. They are paid per event assignment and work an average of 2.9 bouts per event, based on 448 assignments in Nevada commission records. Published assignment fees range from $160 on a small Washington card to $2,000 for a New York main or title bout with combined purses above $1 million.
Does Herb Dean make $500,000 a year?
No evidence supports it. Dean worked 13 Nevada events in 2025. Reaching $500,000 on that workload would require about $38,461 per event, against a highest published US rate of $2,000. His documented fee for the UFC 264 main event was $1,900.
Does the UFC pay referees directly?
No. At regulated US events, the athletic commission licenses and assigns officials and sets or approves their compensation, and the promoter funds those fees under the rules of the jurisdiction. Referees are not UFC employees, which is what preserves their neutrality.
Which state pays MMA referees the most?
Of the schedules published, New York pays the most at the top end: $2,000 for a referee assigned to a main or title bout where combined purses reach $1 million. California’s $1,900 world championship minimum is close behind. Nevada hosts the most UFC events but publishes no scale.
How many fights does a UFC referee work in a night?
About three. Across 50 Nevada events and 448 assignments, referees averaged 2.9 bouts per event. Herb Dean worked exactly three bouts at each of his 13 events in 2025.
Do MMA referees do it full time?
Most do not. Even a top referee working a major jurisdiction earns a modeled $8,450 to $26,000 a year in assignment fees. Officials commonly hold other jobs, run gyms, teach seminars or work officiating courses alongside their commission assignments.
What is the highest documented UFC referee fee?
The highest published rate in any US commission schedule is New York’s $2,000 for a main or title bout at the top purse tier. The highest fee documented for a specific UFC assignment is the $1,900 the Nevada commission approved for Herb Dean at the UFC 264 main event in July 2021.
Methodology
Pay figures are taken directly from the published fee schedules of the California, New York, Washington and Georgia commissions, linked in full below. No figure on this page is sourced from another salary article.
This page follows the same primary-source approach as our UFC statistics study: build the dataset first, then report only what it supports.
The assignment dataset was built by downloading every mixed martial arts show-results document published by the Nevada Athletic Commission for 2025 and 2026 through July 11, 2026, then extracting the referee named against each individual bout. The sample covers 50 events, 448 bout assignments and 19 referees. Of 52 documents listed by the commission, 2 could not be retrieved. Occasional name misspellings in the source documents were normalized to a single spelling per official. Counts were verified by an independent second pass over the raw documents.
Three limitations matter when reading these numbers. The dataset covers Nevada only, so bout counts are floors rather than career totals for referees who also work elsewhere. Assignment records show who worked, not what they were paid, because purse information is redacted. And the annual figures in this guide are transparent models built from published rates, not disclosed earnings; no commission publishes what an official earned in a year.
Sources
- California State Athletic Commission: Officials’ Pay Scale
- New York State Athletic Commission: Combative Sports Officials Fee Schedule, Bulletin 2017-02
- Washington Administrative Code 36-14-120: Officials’ compensation fees
- Nevada Athletic Commission: 2025 event results and 2026 event results
- Nevada Athletic Commission: Referee licensing information
- Minnesota Statutes 341.321: Combative sports license fees
