(Props: Keegan on the UG)

Affliction paid out a little over $3.3 million in disclosed fighter salaries for “Day of Reckoning,” pretty much guaranteeing that they’ll take a financial loss on this event, as we all expected.  Naturally, the payouts include several head-scratchers and jaw-droppers, including $1.5 million to Andrei Arlovski for his 3:14 KO loss to Fedor Emelianenko last night.  At least when you compare it with Tim Sylvia’s $800,000 loss in 0:36, it’s proportional.  Now someone explain to Mark Hunt where his $4 million is.

Here’s how the disclosed salaries broke down:

Fedor Emelianenko $300,000 (no win bonus)
Andre Arlovski $1,500,000 (win bonus would have been $250,000)
Josh Barnett $500,000 (no win bonus)
Gilbert Yvel $30,000 (win bonus would have been $9,300)
Vitor Belfort $200,000 (includes $80,000 win bonus)
Matt Lindland $225,000 (win bonus would have been $75,000)
Renato "Babalu" Sobral $90,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
Thierry Sokoudjou $50,000 (win bonus would have been $50,000)
Paul Buentello $90,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Kiril Sidelnikov $10,000 (win bonus would have been $25,000)
Dan Lauzon $12,000 (no win bonus)
Bobby Green $4,000 (win bonus would have been $4,000)
Jay Hieron $45,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
Jason High $10,000 (win bonus would have been $5,000)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira $150,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Vladimir Matyushenko $50,000 (win bonus would have been $30,000)
L.C. Davis $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Bao Quach $7,000 (win bonus would have been $6,000)
Albert Rios $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Antonio Duarte $3,000 (win bonus would have been $2,000)
Brett Cooper $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Patrick Speight $2,000 (win bonus would have been $3,000)

Thoughts…

Before we get to under and overpaid:

- Okay, we said it last time but it bears repeating.  There’s just no way Fedor only made $300,000 (the exact figure Matt Lindland would have made if he had beaten Vitor Belfort) to fight in an organization that seems to be built almost exclusively around him.  He must be getting money from M-1 in the form of guns or hookers or envelopes full of cash that magically appear on the nightstand in his hotel room.  A just universe simply wouldn’t allow Fedor to make one-fifth of what Arlovski got for letting his hubris talk him into trying a flying knee in the first round, right?  Right?!  Must every last goddamn thing about him be shrouded in secrecy?

- On the subject of Arlovski’s flying knee, I have to imagine that when he came to and asked what happened and his corner explained it to him, he responded, “This is crazy talk.  Why would Andrei try flying knee against Fedor?  Andrei was winning fight with distance and hand speed!”  Then they directed his attention to the replay on the big screen and he became very sad.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Overpaid:  Paul Buentello.  He made $90,000 with a win bonus of twenty grand.  That means Affliction guaranteed him $70,000 to fight the 4-2 “Baby Fedor,” which is insane enough even before you remind yourself that not a single living soul paid to watch Paul Buentello fight last night.  You’re telling me that if they’d offered him twenty and twenty he would have turned it down?  Because I don’t believe you for a second, you lying son of a bitch.

Underpaid: Gilbert Yvel, and it pains me to say that.  Affliction spent so much time trying to convince us he was a credible opponent for Barnett, then went ahead and paid him in guaranteed money what they were offering “Babalu” Sobral as a win bonus.  Meanwhile, Barnett gets a cool half a mil for (in the words of Assemblyman Bob Reilly) sitting on top of him and punching him in the face and head repeatedly.  Making $30,000 for fighting on the pay-per-view portion of an Affliction card is the UFC equivalent of three grand to show and three to win.  In other words, it lets you know that they don’t give a damn about you.