(Somebody should have warned Jose about those adjustable-rate mortgages. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)
Zuffa dished out $595,500 in disclosed salaries and bonuses to the fighters at Saturday’s "Aldo vs. Faber" event, with the end-of-night bonus winners coming out way ahead of the pack. Check out the numbers below, and keep in mind that they don’t include additional income from sponsorships or undisclosed "locker room bonuses," or deductions from insurance, licensing fees, or cornrow maintenance.
Jose Aldo: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Urijah Faber: $28,000
Ben Henderson: $91,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus, $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Donald Cerrone: $14,000
Manny Gamburyan: $101,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Mike Brown: $21,000
Shane Roller: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Anthony Njokuani: $7,000
Scott Jorgensen: $21,000 (includes $10,500 win bonus)
def. Antonio Banuelos: $7,000
Leonard Garcia: $93,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
def. Chan Sung Jung: $70,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Anthony Pettis: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
def. Alex Karalexis: $10,000
Brad Pickett: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
def. Demetrious Johnson: $3,000
Chad Mendes: $8,500 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
def. Anthony Morrison: $4,000
Takeya Mizugaki: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Rani Yahya: $9,000
Tyler Toner: $5,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Visher: $4,000
Underpaid: Most of the people on this list, obviously. There didn’t seem to be any notable increase in the fighters’ show-money, despite Dana White’s vow that "the WEC fighters on this card will make more money than they’ve ever made before." Tell that to Antonio Banuelos, who’s still making four figures in his thirteenth fight for the organization. Even in his first title defense, Ben Henderson earned just $13,000 in base salary, and if not for the Fight of the Night bonus, Chan Sung Jung would have went back to Korea with a paltry five grand.
Overpaid: Nobody, really, though it’s interesting that anybody who has competed before in the UFC (and bounced out due to losses) automatically gets a sweeter deal in the WEC than everybody else. Is Alex Karalexis really more valuable than exciting contenders like Anthony Njokuani and Brad Pickett?
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commentsLittleredcunt, which part of fuck off didn't you understand, now FUCK OFF
The biggest difference between this month's WEC and the last WEC is that Zuffa pocketed a huge amount of money. For all of their extra earnings the only people that got paid more were those that were lucky enought to be "gifted" a "-of the night" bonus by Zuffa. It upsets me as for all of Dana White's talk of wanting to make MMA as big as soccer he doesn't even vaguely attempt to pay them relatively similar figures. How does the belt holder get paid less to turn up than the challenger?
MMA is becoming as bad as boxing. Badly judged, badly paid unless you're within the top 1%. The UFC's contracts are proven to be worthless, lose a few fights and you're cut away even if you're the main event one night. If you don't do what the head of the organisation wants you're cut away, like John Fitch almost was because he didn't want to sign away his image for life. Yes, increasingly, the UFC has some of the best fighters in the world but I always hope that someone will be able build a rival organisation something that will force Zuffa to offer it's fighters better deals.
And people at bloodyvag like me(MORE SILENCE)
Really, REALLY like me (CRICKETS CHIRPING)
'Cause I'm intelligent(TUMBLEWEED ROLLS BY)
Maybe he will just pull a Fedor and decide the contract means nothing and he wants more money.
An estimated 150,000 PPV buys @ $45.00ea. They probably don't get that whole thing as I would assume the cable and satelite providers get a share. But thats a very large cut of 6,750,000. This isn't counting the ticket prices to see it in person. Arco holds about 18,000. But it seemed like they only had the lower level open so lets cut it to 9k for arguments sake. The ticket costs were outrageous because I live in Sac and thought about going. Lowest price was like $50 per seat. If we just use that cost that's an additional $450,000. But I promise you it was much more.
None of this takes into account all the sponsors for the show. The Harley Davidsons and Bud Lights that probably pay for the Arena and quite a few other expenses. The total amount paid to fighter with bonuses included is 596,500.
That is a bunch of money lining the F brothers and D Whites pockets. I love MMA and the UFC for the consistent shows they can put on but they need to treat these atheletes a little better.
I read that Jung signed a five fight deal. Did he screw himself by signing too early? He's definitely worth more than $5,000 per show now.
I was an extra in.. uhhh.. I was a.. Ahhh, forget it. I got nothing.
Yeah, that way people who were in danger of losing a fight can try to loose in a more spectacular way in order to make more money.
But yeah, 40k for a defending champ is a bit bullshit, even if he did coast the last round. I believe a certain Mr. Silva did the same thing for the last 4 rounds of his defence.
And 13k in base salary for the champ in a rematch of the fight of the year? That is unbelieveable.
These numbers had best go up with the buy rates. These guys are worth so much more.
His salary was so low it did not even qualify for the underpaid portion of the article.
***
I hope DW passed out locker room bonuses to EVERYONE.
Kinda surprised he didn't give out 2 FOTN bonuses also.
I guess i just expected DWhite to get all lavish on the guys after that night of fights.
How come you dont get a bonus if you were the victim of "knockout of the night" or "submission of the night"...that be fair, wouldnt it?
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