Fighter pay remains one of the biggest issues concerning the UFC today. One thing that has changed significantly is the frequency of reported payouts for fighters on a per-event basis. Check out this graph from former Bloody Elbow editor Mike Fagan:
Here are the specific percentage totals by year (rounded to the nearest thousandth):
2003 - 52.94%
2004 - 82.05%
2005 - 80%
2006 - 93.67%
2007 - 73.68%
2008 - 53.73%
2009 - 48.37%
2010 - 54.94%
2011 - 47.67%
2012 - 42.