(Ladies and gentleman, #69. There is no God.)
I am going to apologize right from the get-go, Potato Nation, because as I’m writing this, I’m also trying to wrap my brain around the fight I just saw on Super Fight League’s latest installment of Friday Fight Nights and it’s all but completely crippling my ability to focus on my actual task.
While I appreciate the new format that SFL has taken — forgoing freak show fights in mega stadiums in favor of local talent in scaled down arenas — to describe the skill level of some of SFL’s fighters as amateur would be a disservice to amateur MMA fighters around the world. I’m talking specifically, about the heavyweight clash between Virender Singh and Naveen Rao I just witnessed, in which Rao seemingly refused to even attempt to get back to his feet after being taken down, like Butterbean trapped in the YAMMA pit all over again. Singh, on the other hand, was content to dance around and throw one or two GnP shots at a time instead of finishing the fight outright, as if he was unaware of what to do when an opponent literally offers zero defense. Anyway, Rao tapped to strike (yes, it appeared to be just one) and then the camera cut to the crowd engaging in synchronized dance for approximately 3 minutes. BOLLYWOOD IS CRAZY.
What does any of this have to do with the topic at hand? Nothing really, except that even for their completely subpar skill levels, most of the fighters participating on SFL 11 will likely walk away with more money than Tiki Ghosn did from his entire UFC career, at least according to the figures recently released by MMA Manifesto, which tabulated the approximate career earnings of every fighter to fight for the UFC over the past seven years. Of course, the figures only date back to UFC 46, and are void of any sponsorship or locker room bonus money, so perhaps the $2,000 Ghosn was paid should be taken with a grain of salt. Still though, makes you wonder even more how he pulled off this for years.
In either case, join us after the jump to check out the top 300 entries (you can find the full list here). While you might not be shocked at the top few on the list, there are definitely more than a few totals that will leave you scratching your head.
(updated after UFC on Fuel: Franklin vs Le)
| 1 | Chuck Liddell* | $4,320,000 |
| 2 | Tito Ortiz* | $4,075,000 |
| 3 | Quinton Jackson* | $3,240,000 |
| 4 | Michael Bisping* | $3,135,000 |
| 5 | Georges St-Pierre * | $3,102,000 |
| 6 | Randy Couture* | $3,045,000 |
| 7 | Anderson Silva * | $2,871,000 |
| 8 | Brock Lesnar | $2,825,000 |
| 9 | Rashad Evans* | $2,697,000 |
| 10 | B.J. Penn * | $2,650,000 |
| 11 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira * | $2,640,000 |
| 12 | Lyoto Machida* | $2,075,000 |
| 13 | Matt Hughes* | $2,045,000 |
| 14 | Mauricio Rua* | $2,040,000 |
| 15 | Wanderlei Silva* | $2,020,000 |
| 16 | Forrest Griffin* | $1,907,000 |
| 17 | Mirko Cro Cop* | $1,885,000 |
| 18 | Jon Jones* | $1,852,000 |
| 19 | Vitor Belfort* | $1,844,000 |
| 20 | Frank Mir * | $1,433,000 |
| 21 | Dan Henderson* | $1,400,000 |
| 22 | Rich Franklin* | $1,326,000 |
| 23 | Josh Koscheck * | $1,302,000 |
| 24 | Junior dos Santos* | $1,190,000 |
| 25 | Diego Sanchez* | $1,187,000 |
| 26 | Cheick Kongo* | $1,183,000 |
| 27 | Nate Diaz* | $1,113,000 |
| 28 | Jon Fitch * | $1,068,000 |
| 29 | Brandon Vera* | $1,051,000 |
| 30 | Demian Maia * | $ 996,000 |
| 31 | Chris Lytle * | $ 960,000 |
| 32 | Cain Velasquez * | $ 918,000 |
| 33 | Tim Sylvia | $ 915,000 |
| 34 | Fabricio Werdum* | $ 910,000 |
| 35 | Gabriel Gonzaga* | $ 907,000 |
| 36 | Frankie Edgar * | $ 891,000 |
| 37 | Kenny Florian * | $ 836,000 |
| 38 | Nate Marquardt* | $ 834,000 |
| 39 | Chris Leben* | $ 828,000 |
| 40 | Clay Guida* | $ 801,000 |
| 41 | Martin Kampmann* | $ 788,000 |
| 42 | Andrei Arlovski* | $ 768,000 |
| 43 | Joe Stevenson * | $ 761,000 |
| 44 | Cung Le* | $ 760,000 |
| 45 | Donald Cerrone | $ 737,600 |
| 46 | Joe Lauzon* | $ 694,000 |
| 47 | Melvin Guillard* | $ 650,800 |
| 48 | Thiago Alves* | $ 643,000 |
| 49 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira* | $ 625,000 |
| 50 | Jake Shields* | $ 600,000 |
| 51 | Stefan Struve* | $ 596,000 |
| 52 | Jim Miller* | $ 584,000 |
| 53 | Chael Sonnen* | $ 582,000 |
| 54 | Carlos Condit* | $ 574,000 |
| 55 | Nick Diaz* | $ 568,500 |
| 56 | Dong Hyun Kim* | $ 559,000 |
| 57 | Alan Belcher * | $ 558,000 |
| 58 | Stephan Bonnar* | $ 557,000 |
| 59 | Jason MacDonald * | $ 556,200 |
| 60 | Thiago Silva* | $ 555,000 |
| 61 | Sam Stout* | $ 552,000 |
| 62 | Tyson Griffin* | $ 532,500 |
| 63 | Matt Wiman* | $ 528,000 |
| 64 | Matt Hamill* | $ 524,000 |
| 65 | Gleison Tibau * | $ 523,000 |
| 66 | Matt Serra* | $ 515,000 |
| 67 | Johny Hendricks* | $ 504,000 |
| 68 | Spencer Fisher* | $ 504,000 |
| 69 | James Toney | $ 500,000 |
| 70 | Takanori Gomi* | $ 500,000 |
| 71 | Ken Shamrock* | $ 490,000 |
| 72 | Dennis Siver * | $ 485,000 |
| 73 | Marcus Davis* | $ 478,000 |
| 74 | Yoshihiro Akiyama* | $ 475,000 |
| 75 | Jake Ellenberger* | $ 465,000 |
| 76 | Mark Munoz* | $ 463,000 |
| 77 | Heath Herring* | $ 460,000 |
| 78 | Ed Herman* | $ 454,000 |
| 79 | Jeremy Stephens * | $ 445,000 |
| 80 | Mac Danzig* | $ 445,000 |
| 81 | Sean Sherk* | $ 436,000 |
| 82 | Mike Swick* | $ 423,000 |
| 83 | Terry Etim* | $ 417,000 |
| 84 | Kendall Grove * | $ 410,000 |
| 85 | Ricardo Almeida* | $ 410,000 |
| 86 | Keith Jardine * | $ 405,000 |
| 87 | Brian Stann* | $ 404,000 |
| 88 | Ryan Bader* | $ 401,000 |
| 89 | Royce Gracie | $ 400,000 |
| 90 | Wilson Gouveia* | $ 396,800 |
| 91 | Evan Dunham* | $ 393,000 |
| 92 | Gray Maynard* | $ 392,000 |
| 93 | Edson Barboza* | $ 390,000 |
| 94 | Yushin Okami* | $ 386,000 |
| 95 | Alistair Overeem | $ 385,714 |
| 96 | Anthony Johnson* | $ 385,000 |
| 97 | Cole Miller* | $ 381,000 |
| 98 | Kurt Pellegrino * | $ 369,000 |
| 99 | Ben Rothwell* | $ 369,000 |
| 100 | Mike Pyle* | $ 367,000 |
| 101 | Roy Nelson* | $ 366,000 |
| 102 | Dan Hardy* | $ 365,000 |
| 103 | Thiago Tavares* | $ 353,000 |
| 104 | Rick Story* | $ 342,000 |
| 105 | Charles Oliveira* | $ 341,000 |
| 106 | Urijah Faber* | $ 337,000 |
| 107 | Aaron Simpson* | $ 336,000 |
| 108 | Paulo Thiago* | $ 332,000 |
| 109 | Benson Henderson* | $ 318,000 |
| 110 | DaMarques Johnson * | $ 318,000 |
| 111 | Krzysztof Soszynski * | $ 312,000 |
| 112 | Vladimir Matyushenko* | $ 307,000 |
| 113 | Nik Lentz* | $ 307,000 |
| 114 | Ross Pearson* | $ 306,000 |
| 115 | George Sotiropoulos * | $ 304,000 |
| 116 | Hector Lombard* | $ 300,000 |
| 117 | Alessio Sakara* | $ 299,000 |
| 118 | C.B. Dollaway * | $ 293,000 |
| 119 | Phil Davis* | $ 290,000 |
| 120 | Mark Bocek* | $ 289,000 |
| 121 | Dan Miller* | $ 283,000 |
| 122 | Amir Sadollah* | $ 282,000 |
| 123 | Shane Carwin* | $ 281,000 |
| 124 | Rafael dos Anjos* | $ 281,000 |
| 125 | Nate Quarry* | $ 280,000 |
| 126 | Tom Lawlor* | $ 278,000 |
| 127 | Karo Parisyan* | $ 277,000 |
| 128 | Paul Taylor* | $ 275,000 |
| 129 | Jose Aldo* | $ 273,000 |
| 130 | Jorge Rivera * | $ 273,000 |
| 131 | Chan-Sung Jung | $ 264,000 |
| 132 | Marcus Aurelio* | $ 263,000 |
| 133 | Patrick Cote* | $ 263,000 |
| 134 | Chris Weidman* | $ 262,000 |
| 135 | Rousimar Palhares* | $ 255,000 |
| 136 | Josh Neer* | $ 251,000 |
| 137 | Mark Coleman* | $ 250,000 |
| 138 | Matt Riddle* | $ 248,000 |
| 139 | TJ Grant* | $ 245,000 |
| 140 | Mark Hominick* | $ 241,000 |
| 141 | Dustin Hazelett* | $ 240,800 |
| 142 | Matt Brown* | $ 240,000 |
| 143 | Hermes Franca* | $ 238,000 |
| 144 | Tim Boetsch* | $ 238,000 |
| 145 | Mike Pierce* | $ 237,000 |
| 146 | Evan Tanner* | $ 232,000 |
| 147 | Travis Browne* | $ 229,000 |
| 148 | Pat Barry* | $ 224,000 |
| 149 | Eddie Sanchez* | $ 222,000 |
| 150 | Lavar Johnson* | $ 220,000 |
| 151 | Cub Swanson* | $ 220,000 |
| 152 | Joey Beltran * | $ 218,000 |
| 153 | Shane Roller* | $ 218,000 |
| 154 | Rich Clementi* | $ 217,000 |
| 155 | Leonard Garcia* | $ 217,000 |
| 156 | Brock Larson* | $ 207,000 |
| 157 | Paul Kelly* | $ 204,000 |
| 158 | Joseph Benavidez* | $ 200,500 |
| 159 | Danny Castillo* | $ 199,600 |
| 160 | Luiz Cane* | $ 199,000 |
| 161 | Demetrious Johnson* | $ 198,000 |
| 162 | Brian Ebersole* | $ 195,000 |
| 163 | Kyle Kingsbury* | $ 194,000 |
| 164 | Pablo Garza* | $ 191,000 |
| 165 | Jeremy Horn* | $ 185,000 |
| 166 | Antoni Hardonk* | $ 184,000 |
| 167 | Paul Sass* | $ 184,000 |
| 168 | Brendan Schaub* | $ 182,000 |
| 169 | Dustin Poirier | $ 181,000 |
| 170 | Nam Phan* | $ 181,000 |
| 171 | Mike Russow | $ 179,000 |
| 172 | Miguel Torres | $ 178,800 |
| 173 | Rory MacDonald* | $ 178,000 |
| 174 | Michael McDonald | $ 177,000 |
| 175 | John Hathaway* | $ 177,000 |
| 176 | Roger Huerta* | $ 176,000 |
| 177 | Jared Hamman* | $ 171,000 |
| 178 | Jorge Gurgel* | $ 170,000 |
| 179 | Yves Edwards* | $ 170,000 |
| 180 | Dave Herman* | $ 169,000 |
| 181 | Matt Mitrione* | $ 168,000 |
| 182 | Jacob Volkmann * | $ 168,000 |
| 183 | Bart Palaszweski* | $ 167,500 |
| 184 | Akihiro Gono* | $ 167,000 |
| 185 | Gerald Harris * | $ 167,000 |
| 186 | Drew McFedries* | $ 165,000 |
| 187 | Daniel Roberts | $ 164,000 |
| 188 | Erick Silva* | $ 162,000 |
| 189 | Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou | $ 160,000 |
| 190 | Thales Leites* | $ 157,000 |
| 191 | Rob Emerson* | $ 156,000 |
| 192 | Michael Johnson* | $ 156,000 |
| 193 | Dominick Cruz* | $ 155,000 |
| 194 | Kyle Noke* | $ 155,000 |
| 195 | Brian Foster * | $ 153,000 |
| 196 | Alexander Gustafsson* | $ 152,000 |
| 197 | Renato Sobral* | $ 151,000 |
| 198 | Manny Gamburyan* | $ 150,000 |
| 199 | Din Thomas* | $ 148,000 |
| 200 | Stipe Miocic* | $ 148,000 |
| 201 | Josh Burkman* | $ 146,000 |
| 202 | Mike Brown* | $ 146,000 |
| 203 | Luke Cummo* | $ 144,000 |
| 204 | Diego Nunes* | $ 144,000 |
| 205 | Riki Fukuda* | $ 144,000 |
| 206 | James Irvin* | $ 143,000 |
| 207 | Scott Jorgensen | $ 143,000 |
| 208 | Duane Ludwig* | $ 142,000 |
| 209 | Jason Brilz* | $ 141,000 |
| 210 | Diego Brandao* | $ 141,000 |
| 211 | Antonio Silva | $ 140,000 |
| 212 | Dennis Bermudez* | $ 140,000 |
| 213 | Jonathan Goulet* | $ 138,500 |
| 214 | Paul Daley* | $ 138,200 |
| 215 | Charlie Brenneman* | $ 136,000 |
| 216 | Carlos Eduardo Rocha* | $ 152,000 |
| 217 | Chris Wilson* | $ 133,000 |
| 218 | Anthony Njokuani* | $ 132,400 |
| 219 | Tony Ferguson* | $ 131,000 |
| 220 | Court McGee* | $ 131,000 |
| 221 | Frank Trigg* | $ 128,000 |
| 222 | Dennis Hallman* | $ 128,000 |
| 223 | Ryan Jensen | $ 127,000 |
| 224 | Brian Bowles* | $ 127,000 |
| 225 | James Te-Huna* | $ 126,000 |
| 226 | Aaron Riley* | $ 125,000 |
| 227 | Ricardo Lamas* | $ 125,000 |
| 228 | Igor Pokrajac* | $ 125,000 |
| 229 | Brad Pickett* | $ 124,000 |
| 230 | Paul Buentello* | $ 122,000 |
| 231 | Cody McKenzie* | $ 122,000 |
| 232 | Kevin Burns* | $ 120,000 |
| 233 | Alex Caceres* | $ 120,000 |
| 234 | Mark Hunt* | $ 117,000 |
| 235 | John Dodson | $ 116,000 |
| 236 | Anthony Pettis* | $ 115,000 |
| 237 | Jake Rosholt | $ 114,000 |
| 238 | John Howard* | $ 114,000 |
| 239 | Karlos Vemola* | $ 114,000 |
| 240 | Kuniyoshi Hironaka* | $ 113,000 |
| 241 | Joe Riggs* | $ 111,000 |
| 242 | Ivan Menjivar* | $ 111,000 |
| 243 | Takeya Mizugaki* | $ 108,000 |
| 244 | Rony Mariano Bezerra* | $ 106,000 |
| 245 | Efrain Escudero* | $ 104,000 |
| 246 | Justin Lawrence* | $ 104,000 |
| 247 | TJ Waldburger* | $ 103,000 |
| 248 | Ben Saunders * | $ 102,000 |
| 249 | Luigi Fioravanti* | $ 102,000 |
| 250 | Che Mills* | $ 102,000 |
| 251 | Rob Kimmons* | $ 100,000 |
| 252 | John-Olav Einemo* | $ 100,000 |
| 253 | Steve Cantwell* | $ 100,000 |
| 254 | Tim Credeur* | $ 98,000 |
| 255 | Bryan Carraway | $ 97,000 |
| 256 | Goran Reljic * | $ 96,000 |
| 257 | Mike Massenzio* | $ 96,000 |
| 258 | Chris Camozzi* | $ 96,000 |
| 259 | Dean Lister* | $ 95,000 |
| 260 | Erik Koch* | $ 94,000 |
| 261 | Jason Miller | $ 92,000 |
| 262 | Chad Mendes* | $ 92,000 |
| 263 | Justin Edwards* | $ 92,000 |
| 264 | Jamie Varner | $ 91,000 |
| 265 | Tomasz Drwal* | $ 90,600 |
| 266 | Louis Gaudinot | $ 90,200 |
| 267 | Gilbert Yvel | $ 90,000 |
| 268 | Houston Alexander* | $ 90,000 |
| 269 | Eric Schafer* | $ 90,000 |
| 270 | Edwin Figueroa* | $ 89,000 |
| 271 | Travis Lutter* | $ 88,000 |
| 272 | Raphael Assuncao* | $ 88,000 |
| 273 | Jake O’Brien | $ 87,000 |
| 274 | Stephen Thompson | $ 85,000 |
| 275 | Rodrigo Damm* | $ 85,000 |
| 276 | Marcos Vinicius* | $ 85,000 |
| 277 | Ryo Chonan* | $ 84,000 |
| 278 | Jorge Santiago* | $ 84,000 |
| 279 | Fabio Maldonado* | $ 84,000 |
| 280 | Rodney Wallace* | $ 83,000 |
| 281 | Eliot Marshall* | $ 83,000 |
| 282 | Constantinos Philippou* | $ 83,000 |
| 283 | Mitch Gagnon* | $ 83,000 |
| 284 | Jason Lambert* | $ 82,000 |
| 285 | Pascal Krauss* | $ 82,000 |
| 286 | Matt Grice* | $ 82,000 |
| 287 | Brad Tavares* | $ 82,000 |
| 288 | John Lineker* | $ 81,800 |
| 289 | Eddie Yagin* | $ 81,000 |
| 290 | Vaughan Lee* | $ 81,000 |
| 291 | Caol Uno * | $ 80,000 |
| 292 | Phil Baroni | $ 80,000 |
| 293 | Darren Elkins* | $ 80,000 |
| 294 | Eddie Wineland* | $ 80,000 |
| 295 | Seth Baczynski* | $ 80,000 |
| 296 | Kalib Starnes* | $ 79,000 |
| 297 | Lance Benoist* | $ 79,000 |
| 298 | Andre Winner * | $ 78,000 |
| 299 | Ian McCall* | $ 77,000 |
| 300 | Ryan Jimmo* | $ 77,000 |
Yes it’s a mess and yes it’s long as hell, but it’s a pretty damn comprehensive list on MMAManifesto’s part and it needed to be shared, so DEAL WITH IT.
Like we said, there are definitely some odd placements that need to be discussed amongst you Taters (Bisping over GSP?! Stefan Struve over Stephan Bonnar?!) as well as some whimsically hilarious ones (Terry Etim over Edson Barboza, Carlos Condit at #54, Nick Diaz at #55), but which figure strikes you as the most shocking? Personally, I gotta go with Brandon Vera. His last performance aside, the dude has underwhelmed and underperformed his way to six figures. But I guess that’s why they call it the American dream.
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commentsi refuse to believe jenx pulver only made 60k in his entire fighting career
It is a mathematical masturbation act. It seems pretty useless to spend a bunch of time rounding up incomplete and inaccurate figures and then cobbling them together for everyone to see. They should just call it the list of disclosed fight purses and possibly declared fight night bonuses, not fighters career incomes.
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