UFC what $

I would want serious dough they kick the shit out of each other. the one i just watched was UFC 79 Chuck against Wanderlei Silva that was brutal

Most of them don't make shit. Here is the pay rates for the last pay per view

Dominick Cruz -- $115,000 (including $20,000 win bonus and $75,000 “FOTN” bonus) def. Urijah Faber -- $107,000 (including $75,000 “FOTN” bonus)
Chris Leben -- $92,000 (including $46,000 win bonus) def. Wanderlei Silva -- $200,000
Dennis Siver -- $50,000 (including $25,000 win bonus) def. Matt Wiman -- $18,000
Tito Ortiz -- $525,000 (including $75,000 submission bonus) def. Ryan Bader -- $20,000
Carlos Condit -- $143,000 (including $34,000 win bonus and $75,000 knockout bonus) def. Dong Hyun Kim -- $41,000
Melvin Guillard -- $64,000 (including $32,000 win bonus) def. Shane Roller -- $21,000
Rafael dos Anjos -- $28,000 (including $14,000 win bonus) def. George Sotiropoulos -- $15,000
Brian Bowles -- $34,000 (including $17,000 win bonus) def. Takeya Mizugaki -- $12,000
Aaron Simpson -- $34,000 (including $17,000 win bonus) def. Brad Tavares -- $10,000
Anthony Njokuani -- $16,000 (including $8,000 win bonus) def. Andre Winner -- $14,000
Jeff Hougland -- $12,000 (including $6,000 win bonus) def. Donny Walker -- $6,000


Only a few guys make real big money the rest don't get shit.

Damn thought they would have made more than that no wonder they fight when they are past their best they need the $$$$

For this UFC, it was an $1, 277,000 disclosed payroll. That does not include any backroom bonuses, or what the fighters make from Sponsorship. I sponsored a fighter a few years back, and I know when he fights now, he makes over 100k just from the little advertisements you see on his shirt, shorts, and banners.

Not to mention, some of these guys have their own gyms, marketing standpoint, who do you want to get trained by, some McDojo down the street who's never been in a fight before, or a Real UFC fighter?

This is a picture of Wanderlai Silva's gym in Las Vegas. Do you think the UFC pay hurts him?


This is Randy Couture's gym.


Feel free to compare the paydays to Boxing, you'll find that the UFC pays the same, and in most cases more than Boxing pays its' fighters. MMA is so chaotic, that on any given day, anyone can win. So you don't have many superstars. But Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, those guys, they make bank, part of the PPV, etc. One day it will catch up to Boxing's premiere fighter payout, but for everything else, it's about the same.

I was actually going to add to my post that the fighters make as much or more from their sponsorships than they do from the actual pay they get from the UFC for the fight. The elite guys get paid, but it is nothing even close to what the elite guys get in boxing. I think most people would agree that Anderson Silva is the best pound for pound MMA fighter in the world. If he isn't the best he is clearly one of the top 2 or 3 best. In his last fight he made $200K which was less than his opponent. In his previous fight before that he got $200K. Again, this doesn't include his sponsorship or any backroom bonuses, but it is chump change compared to what an elite boxer gets. Top boxers who are champs defending their belts regularly make 1-4 million or more. I read that Klitschko made around $5-$10 million in his last fight alone. These guys also have sponsorship deals, gyms and other endorsements and often have contracts that pay more if they win etc.

I'm not saying that the UFC guys can't make good money. Some of them clearly can and if they are smart and invest it in other things they can set themselves up for life, but most of the guys don't get paid worth a shit especially compared to what is actually brought in. UFC 132 had a total fighter payroll of around $1.3 million. It has ticket sales of $2.3 million, sold somewhere between 350,000- 375,000 pay per view buys and aired parts of the card on Spike TV and Facebook. The PPV at $50 each brought in $18 million (obviously they don't get every penny of that, but even if they actually get half of that - which I'm sure they get plenty more than half that is still $9 million) add in the revenue from spike and Facebook and you have the fighters likely getting somewhere between 5-10% of the total revenue.

Today the UFC is bigger and more popular than ever before so fighters have more chances to capitalize on their name outside the ring, but that has only recently become the reality. I think it is why we see a lot of older guys still hanging out trying to get a payday. For every Wanderlai Silva who has a nice gym and likely has a sweet bank account and could retire when he wants and be comfortable for the rest of his life there are likely 10 Mark Kerr's who end up broke and fighting for pennies with bodies that are wrecked. Boxing does the same, for sure, but to me it seems like the potential upside to boxing is that if you do make it to the top you can be in an instant millionaire. In the UFC when you are at the top not so much.

Just my 2 cents as an outsider and fan looking in.

Elite boxers make a ton more than elite MMA fighters, but the average boxer is lucky to make a few hundred bucks per fight.
Also keep in mind career length and damage taken. MMA fights are a few rounds and end almost immediately when a fighter is hurt. Lots of scrapes and marks to be sure but nowhere near the long term brain injury that many boxers face after a dozen 12 round fights getting hit in the head while semiconscious on their feet.

Walking away talking like Chuck Liddell instead of mumbling like Ali is definitely worth something as well.

That is one of the big ones. In the UFC a guy can have 4-5 fights and find himself fighting for the championship. If he wins he is now making the bigger money. In boxing you usually have to have 20+ fights before you can fight for a championship so you can take some serious blows to the head and do a lot of damage to yourself just to get into a position to fight for a title.

Taken from : http://www.mma-manifesto.com/ufc-fig...-salaries.html

Sometimes it doesn't pay to get punched in the face.

- If it wasn't for the UFC end of night bonuses, Carlos Condit's pockets wouldn't be so fat. Of Condit's $249000 earned in 2010, a whopping $190000 (76%) of it came from end of night bonuses. He made $85000 for participating in the Fight of the Night at UFC 115 (versus Rory MacDonald) and another $65000 for Knockout of the Night for making Dan Hardy go nightie-night at UFC 120.

Now, for the salary results. It is worth noting that these are only the reported salaries plus Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses that have been made public. Many top performing fighters get additional bonuses paid out to them that aren't reported, plus the top guys get a cut of the pay-per-view buys for events that they headline (not to mention every fighter makes sponsorship money). Also, many athletic commissions don't report fighter's salary info, so for those we've estimated a fighter's purse based on what they have earned in their other recent fights. Fighters with some estimated purses are marked with a * in the database. This data should still be considered very close to accurate, as most fighters' purses remain rather steady from fight to fight (unless they ink a new contract in the meantime).

So, without further ado, here's the salary of each UFC fighter for 2010. To check out 2011's fighter salary info, click here.

Total
1 Georges St-Pierre * $ 900,000
2 Michael Bisping* $ 885,000
3 Brock Lesnar $ 875,000
4 Rashad Evans $ 785,000
5 Rampage Jackson* $ 750,000
6 B.J. Penn * $ 680,000
7 Matt Hughes* $ 560,000
8 Anderson Silva * $ 520,000
9 Chuck Liddell $ 500,000
10 James Toney $ 500,000
11 Randy Couture $ 500,000
12 Mirko Cro Cop* $ 460,000
13 Lyoto Machida* $ 400,000
14 Wanderlei Silva* $ 400,000
15 Cain Velasquez * $ 390,000
16 Chris Leben $ 316,000
17 Mauricio Rua $ 315,000
18 Matt Serra* $ 300,000
19 Junior dos Santos $ 260,000
20 Josh Koscheck * $ 259,000

See the complete list L http://www.mma-manifesto.com/ufc-fig...-salaries.html

UFC Top Ten Earning Fighters in 2011
(data updated to UFC 130)

1 George St-Pierre* $ 400,000
2 Jon Jones $ 355,000
3 Lyoto Machida* $ 329,000
4 Michael Bisping* $ 325,000
5 Anderson Silva $ 275,000
6 Forrest Griffin $ 275,000
7 Vitor Belfort $ 275,000
8 Diego Sanchez $ 260,000
9 Randy Couture* $ 250,000
9 Rampage Jackson $ 250,000
9 Frank Mir $ 250,000

I don't get it. You just repeated what I posted before you regarding money. What was your point?

Mark Kerr came too early into the UFC. It was still in it's embryonic stages. You can't really compare Boxing's top to MMA's. MMA is too chaotic, and let's face it, MMA doesn't feed it's Champions tin cans to fluff up records or play safe. As the Sport grows more, pay will too. We're talking a sport that will be twenty years old in 2113.

I guess my point is that if you are an elite guy in MMA - meaning a champion who has defended his title a few times and is considered one of the best fighters in the UFC - the amount you make compared to an elite boxer is chump change. Last year Manny Pacquiao earned around 25 million in the ring alone not counting sponsorships and outside investments. A guy who is the equivalent of that in MMA like Anderson Silver or Georges St. Pierre or even Brock Lesnor who is new, but draws big crowds and has a lot of fans earned nowhere near that much.

I honestly don't think the pay will increase that much in MMA at least not in the immediate future. Zuffa is buying up everything and will control everything. With that there is no real competition and the fighters can take what they are offered or go elsewhere where they likely will not get as much. Perhaps more promotions will continue to appear and provide some competition but until then we are not likely going to see a huge increase in fighter pay even as the sport continues to get bigger and more popular.

Interesting thread

Is that accurrate with Tito 525,000? Dana White says he better win or he's out and yet they are willing to pay him 1/2 mill I guess as a big name draw. Doesnt make sense. Shows Dana is bsing everyone. (duh) He is an old school wrestling promoter if ever there was one.

But yeah they appear to be giving the fighters less than 10% of the total purse. Maybe less than 5%. Not sure of PPV numbers tho. What a racket.

Good post, couple comments.

Amazing Bisping is doing so well. More than Lesnar.

Matt Hughes doing well with I think only one fight. Maybe two. These older fighters like Tito and Hughes must be paid more.

James Toney got 1/2 mill to quickly get put down by I think Kimbo Slice. Not too bad. Obviously paid because he is a big part of that promotion.

Bisping earning more than Silva in 2011. Guy is doing well for not holding a title and getting beat pretty soundly a couple fights back. Forget by who. Maybe GSP. Good, exciting fighter tho.

Sorry, it was Toney and Couture.

The issue is not what the fighters "could" make after sponsorships or whatever, it's what they make in relation to what the organization is making. This is what upsets most people. Zuffa appears to be making money hand over fist and the fighter purses have lagged behind. At least that's the perception.

I'm no expert and maybe someone here can answer this. When a fighter gets a fight and is paid $150K. How much does his training camp cost? From what I see, they bring in experts or fly them in for extra coaching. Are all those guys free? The nutritionists, the boxing coaches, strength coaches, masseuses, ect.

I know some guys have their own gyms, but not all. So after they pay for their training camps, how much is left over?

The way I understand it the coaches and corner guys and all of the people that help with training are paid by the fighter. They may get a percentage of the purse or a flat rate fee. I think in some cases the promotion might help pay for some of the guys, but I think most of it comes out of the fighters pocket.

The up and coming fighters don't make much. Most are probably scraping by. However once you reach a certain level, the money starts to roll in. Not so much from the salarys from fighting but from the backend PPV percentages and sponsorships. To use your example of Chuck Liddell, at the hight of his career he was probably making 750K in fight salaries, but with his PPV deal and sponsorhips his total compensation was closer to 11 Million a year.

Like all other major sports eventually the athletes will get their fair share - by forming a union or association. Or somebody with billions starts up a rival league and starts throwing multi million dollar deals at the big name UFC fighters.

when you consider a decent NHL hockey player, not a star, is making 3-4 mil a year salary and George St Pierre a UFC icon is making 900k - that ain't gonna last, MMA fighters have to be smarter than that.

that's better

So let me ask you this, who was it who spent 40 Million dollars of their own money to bring the UFC to where it is now. I don't get people who forget the UFC is a business, and the fighters who put asses in seats get paid for it.

The fighters you see in the UFC belong to a camp. And that camp gets a percentage of their purse. Just like boxing

GSP is being paid by the UFC officially 900k. That's his contract. No FOTN, no SOTN, or any bonues are attached to that. As well as Merchandising.

The UFC puts Advertisers in front of MILLIONS of people eyes every month, and it's a demographic that spends money.

good info thanks

Not be so off topic... but how much do the referees get paid ?

I've wondered that myself. It seems like they have the same 5 or 6 guys that have reffing for a long time so it must be decent.