(Fitch finds himself on the wrong end of a Fitch’ing against Demian Maia at UFC 156. Photo via Getty Images)

In the wake of Jon Fitch‘s surprise firing during the Great UFC Bloodletting of February 2013, even die-hard Fitch-haters criticized the move. As the general argument goes, how the hell are you going to cut a fighter who’s one of the ten greatest welterweights in the world by your own rankings, and whose last victory over Erick Silva was a Fight of the Night performance that proved he still has greatness left in him?

UFC president Dana White explained the decision to media yesterday at the UFC 157 press-conference in Anaheim, calling Fitch “super f—ing expensive,” then laying out exactly why he’s not worth the money:

“Jon Fitch was ranked number nine, OK, however you want to look at that, he’s ranked number nine, whether it’s right or wrong or the rankings are bullshit or whatever. Ranked number nine right now. Now, this isn’t a case where Jon Fitch was ranked No. 9, No. 7, No. 6, No. 4, No. 2 and then we cut him. He was ranked No. 1, fought for the title and then he was ranked No. 2. He was ranked No. 3, 6, 7, and now he’s 9. That’s called the downside of your career. He’s on the downside…

“He had a draw, then a loss, right, then a win, then a loss. It’s good, he got more money. He got Fight of the Night because it takes two guys to do that. Right? If Erick Silva’s wrestling wasn’t right there, that wouldn’t have been Fight of the Night. At the end of the day, when you really break it down, who did Erick Silva beat? This was Erick Silva’s first real big fight and big test. And it was a damn good fight. That’s called the downside. He’s not buzzsawing through guys, he’s not doing a [Johny] Hendricks. So it’s not like Jon Fitch was on this incredible fucking winning streak and ‘the greatest fucking welterweight in the history of the world and a fucking Hall of Famer. The guy’s never won a fucking title in his life.”

In other words, Fitch is #9 with a down-arrow, and Erick Silva was never that accomplished to begin with, though Silva nevertheless deserves all the credit for how good that fight was. [*I promise this is not a Scanners gif*] But let’s get back to the more important issue: That Jon Fitch, who makes $66,000 to show, is “super fucking expensive.” Please take a moment to realize what an absolute joke your favorite sport is. Ben Fowlkes puts it best on MMAJunkie:

(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 find out how much each of your favorite fighters have made over the course of their UFC careers. And while you might not be shocked at the top few entries on the list, there are definitely more than a few totals that will leave you scratching your head.

(It’s completely involuntary at this point — even when somebody tries to pat Anderson on the back, he slips it.)

Anderson Silva has beaten up enough middleweights, right? We can all agree on that? Now that he’s finished his toughest rival for the second time, the UFC legend is looking ahead to a pack of potential challengers — including Michael Bisping*, Hector Lombard**, and Mark Munoz*** — who, frankly, wouldn’t pose many challenges that Silva hasn’t already met and overcome. And with his competitive days running out, don’t we want to see Anderson in a super-fight against somebody who might actually give him a run for his money?

Well, Jon Jones doesn’t want to be that guy, so stop asking. During an appearance on ESPN’s Max & Marcellus show yesterday (via BleacherReport), the UFC’s light-heavyweight champ laid out exactly why he’s not interested in a date with the Spider. And while you might not appreciate the explanation, you have to respect his honesty. Maybe. Here’s what he said:

(Nick Diaz: His style is impetuous, his defense is impregnable.)

When Nick Diaz says he’ll fight anybody, anywhere, at any time, he ain’t bullshittin’. Buried in GracieFighter.com’s news section is this little gem about Diaz’s future ambitions (props to BloodyElbow for the tip):

To which RJJ probably responded, "Nick who?" Okay, so it may not quite be the marquee fight that Jones vs. Silva would be, but it’s a pretty decent substitute. I know I’d be curious to see how Nick’s pitty-pat-punches-in-bunches routine would fare against a great boxer (he’s already 1-0 in the sport), and he’s a natural at fight-promotion. Why let Tim Sylvia and Ray Mercer hog all the crossover fun? Don’t be scared, Jonesy!

GracieFighter also had another update on their site that should calm some of the outrage caused by yesterday’s official Strikeforce payouts post:

(Step 1: Do work. Step 2: Receive bread. Photo courtesy of this set on Sherdog.)

The California State Athletic Commission has released payout figures for Saturday’s Strikeforce event, with headliner Frank Shamrock taking home a full 58% of the $633,445 disclosed payroll. And it looks like Strikeforce had to severely underpay a few of its fighters to make up for F-Sham’s hefty purse. Also, they don’t seem to like round numbers. The salaries are below, with some thoughts after the jump…

MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
– Frank Shamrock: $369,790
– Scott Smith: $49,940 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
– Gilbert Melendez: $49,890 (no win bonus)
– Nick Diaz: $39,950 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
– Brett Rogers: $39,940 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
– Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos: $18,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
– Benji Radach: $16,940
– Rodrigo Damm: $9,190
– Ron "Abongo" Humphries: $3,205
– Hitomi Akano: $1,450 (doesn’t include undisclosed extra cash from 11th-hour negotiations)

PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
– Luke Rockhold: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Buck Meredith $1,540
– Eric Lawson $9,950 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Waylon Kennell $1,950
– Raul Castillo $6,890 (includes $3,500 win bonus) def. Brandon Michaels $1,500
– James Terry $3,940 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Zak Bucia $1,500
– Shingo Kohara $940 (no win bonus) def. Jeremy Tavares $940

(Fight night Danavlog reveals that someone is a little self-conscious about his weight.)

The UFC paid out $762,000 in base fighter payroll for UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio, and they dispersed this money according to their usual principles: from each according to his ability, to each according to his marketability.  Full disclosed payout figures are below.  For a more accurate accounting, imagine Rampage Jackson, Keith Jardine, and Matt Hamill all pocketing an extra $60,000 for their end of the night bonuses:

Quinton Jackson — $325,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus)
Keith Jardine — $55,000
Shane Carwin — $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
Gabriel Gonzaga: $60,000
Matt Brown — $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
Pete Sell — $12,000
Matt Hamill — $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
Mark Munoz — $12,000
Gray Maynard — $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
Jim Miller — $9,000
Tamdan McCrory — $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
Ryan Madigan — $3,000
Kendall Grove — $44,000 (includes $22,000 win bonus)
Jason Day — $5,000
Jason Brilz — $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Tim Boetsch — $12,000
Brandon Vera — $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
Michael Patt — $5,000
Shane Nelson — $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus
Aaron Riley — $6,000

("I finish sandwiches!")

As strange as it sounds, there was a time when Tank Abbott could demand $126,000 to fight for less than a minute. Unfortunately, his market value has slightly decreased since then. MMA Junkie reports that the veteran brawler received $20,000 for his 29-second completely-illegal knockout of Mike Bourke at last Friday’s Wargods: Valentine’s Eve Massacre — putting him second on the event’s salary list after Ken Shamrock’s $25,000. Abbott’s opponent Mike Bourke earned $5,000, while Shamrock’s opponent Ross Clifton collected $4,000, which he plans on donating to a good cause. If anybody cares, the rest of the numbers are after the jump. The show drew 2,805 attendees for a $90,745 live gate, $82,150 of which was paid out to the fighters. In other words, the promoters earned less than half of what Tank Abbott did. Slim profit margins of the MMA biz, people… 

(There’s gotta be an easier way to earn five grand. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

$424,000 in official salaries and bonuses were paid out to the fighters who competed at Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night event in Tampa, Florida — a pittance compared to what the guys on pay-per-view cards tend to get, but when you consider that the live gate was only $428,000 it seems downright charitable. The numbers are below. Keep in mind that these figures don’t include income from sponsorships or undisclosed "locker room bonuses."

Cain Velasquez: $60,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus and $30,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus)
Joe Lauzon: $50,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus and $30,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus)
Josh Neer: $48,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus and $30,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
Mac Danzig: $45,000 (includes $30,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
Kurt Pellegrino: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
Anthony Johnson: $26,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus)
Gleison Tibau: $26,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus)
Rich Clementi: $23,000
Dan Miller: $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus)
Matthew Riddle: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

(‘Looks like we won’t be eating boiled down wallpaper this year, after all.’)

Tanking economy, you say?  Not in San Jose, brother.  The official fighter payouts for Strikeforce: Destruction tell a tale of a local MMA promoter that’s doing just fine, even if some of the figures are a little strange.  At least most of the Strikeforce fighters will be able to afford a Christmas now.  And not one of those shitty Christmases where you make homemade gifts and write each other poems and everyone has to pretend like a haiku about a mother’s love is just as cool as an Xbox.  No, a real Christmas.  With material goods and stuff!

Thanks, Strikeforce.  Go to hell, haiku.

Scott Smith: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Terry Martin: $20,000
Renato “Babalu” Sobral: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
Bobby Southworth: $20,000
Duane Ludwig: $32,500 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Yves Edwards: $12,000
Kim Couture: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Lina Kvokov: $1,500
Joe Riggs: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
Luke Stewart: $10,000
Bobby Stack: $5,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
Cyrillo Padilha: $2,000
Eric Lawson: $9,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Tony Johnson: $2,000
Kurt Osiander: $9,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
Josh Neal: $1,550
Brian Schwartz: $28,000 (no win bonus)
Lamont Davis: $5,000
Luke Rockhold: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
Nik Theotikos: $2,000
Darren Uyenoyama: $5,000 (includes $2,5000 win bonus)
Brad Royster: $1,500
Alvin Cacdac: $3,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Jose Palacios: $3,000
Zakary Bucia: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Adam Steele: $1,000

Analysis…

(‘Fuck you, pay me.’)

When we looked at the payouts for WEC 36 and saw $14,000 next to Urijah Faber‘s name, we had little choice but to assume that Zuffa was screwing him like a one-legged Panamanian hooker: cheaply and with shocking disregard for his delicate feelings.

But Faber’s manager, Mike Roberts, says that figure was “not even close” to a full accounting of what Faber was paid to face Mike Brown:

“That was an accurate statement of the check he received that night. Some contractual issues came up after the September fight was postponed and that $14,000 was the remaining balance of what was owed to him. That is not what he made.”

[...]

“Keep in mind Urijah’s still fighting off an old contract, but Urijah’s been well taken care of for the last couple fights.”

(Keep dreaming. Photo courtesy of brandonverablog.com.)

Cripes, quote of the day from MMA Weekly via Mike C. at MMA Eruption

“Of course fighters are gonna always want more money. You’re an employee of a company, you’re always gonna want more money, you’re always gonna be asking for a raise. So hopefully after Saturday I’m in a position where I can ask for a raise, so let’s see what happens.” — Brandon Vera

If I was Keith Jardine, I’d be fucking furious right now. Brandon Vera’s current contract — which began with his UFC 77 loss to Tim Sylvia — gives him a $100,000 base salary with a $100,000 win bonus, making him one of the highest paid fighters in the UFC. And what has Vera’s employer (and the fans) gotten in return? Well, there was that sad decision loss to Timmy, then the sadder first-round TKO loss to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 85, then his light-heavyweight debut fight against Reese Andy in July, where The Truth couldn’t even finish the UFC newcomer. Brandon’s total take: $400,000.

Meanwhile, Jardine remains one of the most underpaid fighters in the sport. His loss to Wanderlei Silva was the first fight on a new contract that pays him $10,000 to show; before that, he was getting only $7,000. In other words, if Jardine wins on Saturday, he’ll still make five times less than Vera — and Vera still wants more money.

As we learned yesterday, Dana White doesn’t care much for this new, cautious, wealthy Brandon Vera. A raise has to be out of the question at this point, regardless of the UFC’s plans for Filipino expansion. Is it too late to tell people that Kenny Florian is actually a proud Pinoy?

(‘Yeah, real cute. Now please knock someone out.’)

When it comes to fighters facing win-or-get-fired matches, no one loves to speculate as to who might be on the hot seat more than we do. But rarely does Dana White make it this easy. Speaking with the Canadian Press, White called into question Brandon Vera‘s motivation as a fighter and said in no uncertain terms that he needs to see the old “Truth” back in the Octagon:

“As soon as he had a few wins and all the money got involved and his new contract and his ex-manager and all that bullshit, he’s changed,” White lamented. “He’s not the same fighter he was. He needs to put all that shit behind him and he’s needs to come back and be the cocky, crazy Brandon Vera that I met a few years ago. That kid needs to come back.

“It seems that now the money’s involved, he doesn’t take chances like he used to, he doesn’t let his hands go like he used to. He’s got to come back and be the old Brandon Vera.”

That’s not what you want to hear from your boss a couple days before a big fight against someone as tough as Keith Jardine. So would White really consider cutting Vera is he loses at UFC 89? Naw, son. With the UFC looking to expand into the Phillipines, Vera’s too valuable right now. Plus he’s earned a little leeway. He’ll get at least a couple more chances to fuck up, but the message ought to be very clear nonetheless.

White wants the explosive, shit-talking Vera. The cautious, grind-out-a-boring-decision Vera? They’re all stocked up in the light heavyweight division. After all, they’ve already got one Lyoto Machida.

(‘Step forward if you’re getting paid for this fight. Not so fast, Mayhem.’)

We all know Dream is having some financial trouble, which is a shame since they put on a quality show and we’d like to see them stick around. But it seems they’ve developed this nasty habit of not paying their fighters. Nick Diaz piped up about it first, and according to Fight Opinion (who did some digging in the Korean media) it’s starting to sound like he’s not the only one who’s fighting for free over in Japan:

“Fighter A” claimed in the article that he didn’t receive money for his last two fights, and “Fighter B” who is preparing for an upcoming fight also is claiming they didn’t get some fight money. “Fighter C” claims that he had to wait three months to get his fight salary.

The article quotes a source as saying, “There’s many fighters who don’t get paid. Especially DREAM fighters, foreigners mostly.” The article claims that the reason in the alleged delaying of payments is due to DREAM’s financial situation and the situation regarding Kazuyoshi Ishii.

You know what’s a good way to make your financial situation worse? Get a reputation as the organization that doesn’t pay their fighters, which will soon become the organization without any fighters. Can’t they just do it the American way and pay all but their top fighters a pathetically low amount? Is that so hard?

KJ Noons became the latest Elite XC fighter to release an official statement, as he finally dished on what’s been keeping him from taking a fight with Nick Diaz on the October 4 CBS show. Noons sent his screed to MMANews.com, and it is full of fun little quips and nuggets about life in Elite XC. Noons’ grievances range from the financial to the probably merely perceived to the petty, but he puts it all out there with enough attitude and anger to make up for all the time he let Jared Shaw run his mouth without consequences. Among his complaints:

In the Elite XC’s DVD where Diaz and I fought there are two (2) baseball cards of Diaz and Kimbo. Hello! I won the fight and Elite XC’s promoting Diaz after I beat him? Or how about the day Elite XC flew Diaz in to do a signing on the DVD where he lost. Wow, that must have been uncomfortable Nick? Signing a DVD, and it is a fight that you lost. Why wasn’t I flown in for the signing?

[...]

Consider when Elite XC gives a couple thousand tickets away at their CBS show in Stockton.
Elite XC gives me a hard time about comping me one extra ticket for my cousin that helped me train for my fight. I only get four tickets per show. I am the main event in Honolulu, my home town! I did not ask for any tickets for my family and friends and they gave me a hard time about one extra ticket!

Or how about when Elite XC brought Diaz into the ring after my last victory in Hawaii to disrespect me and my family.

Chuck Champion (President Elite XC) threatens me, my family and my manager with lawsuits and how he’s going to sue me. HAHA. Pretty hard to sue a guy who does not make jack with your company. I’m glad $kala disclosed how much I make, which breached the confidentiality clause of the contract. I will break down the real numbers for you. I am the defending world champ, I have been the main event for Elite XC three out of four times on Showtime. In almost two years I have made approximately $83,000?

Of course, Noons then goes on to tread familiar ground for fighters, explaining that he has to pay his trainers and managers and (gasp!) taxes with that money, so he figures he’s really only making around $300 a week, and his friends who are bus boys make more than that (he really said that).

The Diaz situation rears its ugly head in all of this, and it seems that their request to have Noons face him in a rematch on CBS was what really set “King Karl” off:

From The Adam Carolla Show via MMA Mania:

I’d love for the UFC to step up and make the fight [with Fedor Emelianenko] happen. It has the potential to be the biggest mixed martial arts fight to date…It has the potential to do 700,000+ pay-per-view buys which is a helluva lotta money. I think 6-10 [million should be the salary] for each of us and they’re still gonna make a boatload of money on top of that.

Generally speaking, cable operators take half of the revenue for PPV events, which would mean that the UFC gets $22.495 per buyer these days. Though it’s been suggested that the UFC has been able to work out a slightly better deal with its distributors, multiplying that figure by Randy’s estimate of 700,000 buys would mean that the UFC would take in about $15,746,500 from a PPV card headlined by Couture vs. Emelianenko. “Boatload” may not be the right word if you’re taking at least $12,000,000 off the top to pay the headliners. Pay Randy and Fedor $8 million apiece or more, and the UFC’s profit from the broadcast is eliminated altogether. Of course, the equation changes completely if the fight does Liddell/Ortiz-caliber numbers, but its hard to predict if Couture vs. Emelianenko will mobilize the casual UFC fan like UFC 66‘s grudge match did.

In other words, there’s no way the UFC is going to cave to Couture’s asking price. I’d imagine they’re still interested in negotiating — if for no other reason than to take Affliction’s hope of a big-drawing superfight away from them — but they won’t agree to a situation where they’re only breaking even financially. Just as importantly, paying headliners that much money for a single fight sets a precedent that could have even more of their contracted fighters giving them grief about “respect.” We just hope the two sides can eventually come to terms, because if the UFC can’t afford to put this fight on, it’s doubtful that anybody else can.

(“Where’s the money, bitch? I want my money!”)

We’ve already gone over how Roger Huerta feels underloved and underpaid. But we haven’t gotten any sense of what El Matador thinks he’s actually worth — until now. From WrestlingObserver.com via MMA Mania:

Huerta, who has one fight left on his contact after the Florian fight, is far apart with UFC on terms for a renewal. Huerta, who has gotten a new agent, was asking for six-figures guaranteed per fight as well as points on the PPV, in negotiations that haven’t gone well for some time. That’s a better deal then [BJ] Penn, so he wasn’t going to get it. The UFC position is that they groomed Huerta and pushed him hard and were careful of his opponents, with the exception of Clay Guida…

OMFG. Six figures is a ballsy request for someone who’s four days away from being sent back to the middle of the UFC’s lightweight ladder. (Remember, he’s currently making $19,000 to show and $19,000 to win.) But asking for points on the pay-per-view take is straight-up delusional. All of a sudden, beating Clay Guida puts you into the Chuck/Tito/Randy level of compensation?

Not only does Huerta seem to have an over-inflated sense of his value — which is troubling enough as it is — but his demands could easily sink his chances of fighting for the lightweight championship. It’s the UFC’s policy to not allow title shots to fighters unless they sign contract extensions, and if the two sides can’t meet in the middle, he’ll be given the Arlovski treatment — a long, involuntary hiatus, a meaningless final match on an undercard, and a “goodbye” without the common courtesy of a “good luck.” So if he manages to get past Florian at “Seek and Destroy,” he’ll need to make nice if he wants a crack at the belt.

Or, he could just wait it out and join up with Affliction, where they literally sneeze at $100,000 base salaries. $100,000 is what they spent on shrimp cocktail for Tim Sylvia’s dressing room at “Banned.” And goddamn if he didn’t eat all of it.

(“Yaaaaaaaay!” Photo courtesy of MMA Mania.)

According to SI.com, Tito Ortiz signed a deal with Affliction yesterday that will make him the highest paid fighter in MMA history, and will compete at Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” card (October 11th, Las Vegas); his opponent is expected to be Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Though he wouldn’t drop specific numbers, Ortiz told SI’s Arash Markazi:

“I guarantee you that my contract will be like no other…It will be a ground-breaking record contract for sure, without a doubt. There’s so much money to be made right now in mixed martial arts and it’s all about the fighters trying to make that money. It’s going to be a long-term deal where I put my heart and soul into the company and help build them…They’re going to bring me on, not just as a fighter but also doing some of the back work also…

I’m going to a company that’s going to take care of me, a company that’s going to respect me, a company that’s going to put me in the forefront and make me the ambassador that I’ve always been.”

Regarding Affliction’s drawing power with him on board, Ortiz was optimistic — perhaps insanely so:

“I know they want to make some money and I know they got over 100,000 pay-per-view buys on their first show and with me it’s guaranteed to be over 500,000 pay-per-view buys just by the number of fans that are going to follow me no matter where I go so they’re going to get there money’s worth just in pay-per-view no matter what.”

(Hiromitsu Miura and Carlos Condit. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the fighter salary figures for Sunday’s WEC show. Yeah, they’re lower than what you might see in UFC, but the greatest disparity lies in the fight bonuses. The WEC handed out $7,500 bumps for Knockout (Brock Larson), Submission (Brian Bowles), and Fight of the Night (both Condit/Miura and Varner/Hicks) — compared to the $60,000 bonuses now up for grabs in the UFC. The numbers are below; props to MMA Junkie and MMA Weekly.

Carlos Condit: $51,500 (includes $22,000 win bonus, $7,500 Fight of the Night bonus)
Jamie Varner: $37,500 (includes $15,000 win bonus, $7,500 Fight of the Night bonus)
Brock Larson: $37,500 (includes $15,000 win bonus, $7,500 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Marcus Hicks: $23,500 (includes $7,500 Fight of the Night bonus)
Brian Bowles: $15,500 (includes $4,000 win bonus, $7,500 Submission of the Night bonus)
Hiromitsu Miura: $12,500 (includes $7,500 Fight of the Night bonus)
Blas Avena: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
Shane Roller: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
Brian Stann: $11,000
Steve Cantwell: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Josh Grispi: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
Carlo Prater: $7,000
Mike Budnik: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Scott Jorgensen: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Damacio Page: $6,000
Micah Miller: $5,000
Kenji Osawa: $5,000
Todd Moore: $4,000
Dave Terrel: $3,000
Greg McIntyre: $2,000
Total: $275,000

Underpaid: Pretty much everyone. Particularly, everyone under Steve Cantwell on the list, and Hiromitsu Miura, who went into the main event title fight with just a $5,000 base salary — and left with a long medical suspension. To put this in perspective, Matt Lindland out-earned WEC 35′s entire payroll for fighting at Affliction: Banned.

Overpaid: Nobody. Though, relative to the other fighters you might say Marcus Hicks was overpaid. For some reason, his $16,000 base salary was the night’s second-highest, after Carlos Condit.

(‘Who has the nachos? Don’t act like I don’t know nachos when I smell ‘em!’)

After reports that Zuffa was buying the video library and at least some of the IFL’s fighter contracts, we kept expecting the flood of stories about all the ex-IFL’ers making the jump to either the UFC or WEC. So far news has been relatively light on that front, but it looks like Affliction has swooped in to pick off a couple of top prospects for themselves.

MMANews.com reports that Roy Nelson will face Xtreme Couture’s Jay White at Affliction: DoR (the abbreviations have already begun, deal with it) in October. Nelson was the IFL’s only official heavyweight champ, and White is…2-5. Wonder which of these guys is being groomed for a big future in the stacked Affliction heavyweight division?

Meanwhile, Sherdog is passing along info that a rematch with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been offered to IFL light heavyweight champ Vladimir Matyushenko. Vladdy beat Little Nog via decision in 2002, and he never faced much of a test during his unbeaten run in the IFL. Matyushenko would make an excellent addition to the growing 205-pound ranks in Affliction, which should soon include Tito Ortiz, who Matyushenko lost a decision to in 2001.

In other news…

- Fightlinker has enlisted the services of Matthew Polly — author of this hilarious and highly recommended book — to review several of the MMA “memoirs” that have hit the shelves in recent months. Polly does to their sense of narrative and craft (and their ghostwriters’ sense of exactly how much work they’d have to do to get paid) what these same fighters would likely do to the face of anyone who uses words like narrative and craft. Fun times. Check out his review of “Iceman: My Fighting Life” and you’ll see what we mean.

- Ever wondered how rich Dana White really is? Well, rich. But Wall Street Fighter tries to nail down a solid figure. It’s actually harder than it sounds, although their photoshop of the UFC Prez is just adorable.

(The Maine-iac may go from being grossly, grossly overpaid, to just grossly overpaid. Photo courtesy of Tim-Sylvia.com.)

Dave Meltzer is reporting that Affliction VP Tom Atencio will be asking certain Affliction fighters to take a pay cut to fight in their next event (October 11th, Las Vegas):

The promotion has talked with some fighters about doing the 10/11 show for 50% of what they made on the first show but in return they would give those fighters easy opponents.

Overpaid fighters who could use an easier opponent the next time out? They might as well have called Tim Sylvia out by name — though Ben Rothwell and Matt Lindland could fit that description as well. For the record, Josh Barnett has stated that he would not accept a pay cut to fight again for Affliction; he previously made $300,000 with no win bonus for his knockout of Pedro Rizzo.

BloodyElbow also points out that the Thomas & Mack Center’s Affliction page lists Affliction II’s main event as “Arlovski vs. TBD!” — suggesting that the return of Fedor Emelianenko might not be a done deal after all. Well sure, I mean he just went 36 seconds with one of the top ten heavyweights in the world; the man could use another three-year break…

Related: The weirdest thing I came across while doing a Google Image Search for “Tim Sylvia.”

(Oh boo-fucking-hoo.)

Add “El Matador” to the list of UFC stars who’ve become publicly displeased with the organization’s low wages and lack of respect. MMA Payout passes along an excerpt from a new article in Fight! Magazine — written by occasional CagePotato commenter Neal Taflinger — in which Roger Huerta does some serious venting:

Huerta is one of a growing number of Zuffa-contracted fighter who feel that there is a disconnection between the company’s success and the way fighters are compensated. Huerta’s disillusionment with the UFC began when he did press tours for his employer in Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, and London and received a $50 per diem for his troubles. It sounds like a a good deal until you factor in time away from training, friends, and family, days often stretch twelve hours or more, and an exchange rate of one UK pound for two American dollars. “Why do you think I don’t do PR for the UFC any more?” he asks.

He’s also unhappy with the terms of his current contract, but to Huerta, the press tours underscore a larger point: by and the large, Zuffa does not treat its contracted fighters with sufficient loyalty or respect. He argues that many UFC fighters barely make enough to cover their training expenses. He brings up teammate Keith Jardine repeatedly, incensed that a main event fighter is working for ten and ten- $10k to show and 10k to win — while his opponent regularly makes ten times as much.

…

“The truth is, I don’t really care if I fight in the UFC or somewhere else,” Huerta says. The fighter says he understands that Zuffa has to keep an eye on the bottom line, but he wants to work, “For a company that is as loyal to me as I am to them.”

(Antonio “Bigwallet” Silva does work. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The California State Athletic Commission has released salary figures for EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” event on July 26th. The numbers are below, and don’t include undisclosed bonuses, sponsorship payments, or deductions for insurance and taxes.

Antonio Silva: $200,000 ($100,000 to show, $100,000 to win)
Robbie Lawler: $90,000 ($45,000 to show, $45,000 to win)
Nick Diaz: $60,000
Jake Shields: $45,000 ($35,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Nick Thompson: $25,000
Justin Eilers: $20,000
Rafael Feijao: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Scott Smith: $14,000
Thomas Denny: $8,500
Shayna Baszler: $8,000
Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos: $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win)
Anthony Ruiz: $5,001 ($2,001 to show, $3,000 to win)
Wilson Reis: $5,000 ($2,500 to show, $2,500 to win)
Travis Galbraith: $5,000
David Douglas: $4,000 ($3,500 to show, $1,500 to win)
Carl Seumantafa: $4,000 ($2,000 to show, $2,000 to win)
Drew Montgomery: $3,000 ($1,500 to show, $1,500 to win)
Marlon Mathias: $2,500
Jeremy Freitag: $2,500
Brian Caraway: $2,000
Brandon Tarn: $2,000
Mike Cook: $2,000
Total: $533,501

Underpaid: Theoretically, it’s nice that Jake Shields gets the majority of his salary guaranteed, but since he never loses he’s basically being screwed out of twenty grand every time he fights. Hopefully Scott Smith is getting a locker-room bump for starring in two title fights on CBS within seven weeks, and hopefully Cris Cyborg — who’s now the most buzzed-about female fighter in MMA — can renegotiate her contract to something respectable after her demolition of Shayna Baszler.

Overpaid: Antonio Silva is certainly worthy of a large payday, but it’s strange that he took in so much more than everyone else, considering he’s still not a popular draw and was stuck on a barely-watched Showtime undercard. Props to his manager, I guess.

(Robbie Lawler does his best Joe Stevenson impression at EliteXC: Unfinished Business. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin via Fightlinker.)

The California State Athletic Commission has released figures on the attendance and gate revenue for Saturday’s “Unfinished Business” show, and good Lord are they awful. Of the 8,541 seats available for the event, only 2,871 — or 33.6% — were purchased by fans. Of the remainder, 3,701 were given away as comps, and 2,023 went totally unused. The 2,871 paid tickets brought in $268,715 in revenue, which is less than the dollar value of the tickets that were given away ($340,960).

So, not only was “Unfinished Business” a ratings disappointment, but its live attendance (6,752 Stocktonites in total) was destroyed by other major MMA events held in California recently. For example…

Affliction: Banned — 14,832 total attendance, 11,242* paid (Anaheim, 7/19/08)
Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson — 7,288 total, 6,750 paid (San Jose, 6/27/08)
WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver — 12,001 total, paid figure unavailable (Sacramento, 6/1/08)
Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le — 15,192 total, 14,710 paid (San Jose, 3/29/08)
UFC 76 (their most recent event in California) — 13,770 total, 11,817 paid (Anaheim, 9/22/07)
* figure is debatable.

Back in May, EliteXC’s “Primetime” card — held at Newark’s Prudential Center and starring Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano — drew a respectable 8,033 spectators. EliteXC plans on holding their next CBS show in October at the 20,000-seat BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. Of course Kimbo is going to be a big draw in his home state, but unless EliteXC likes hearing the echo of thousands of empty seats, they might want to think about scaling back a little.

(Did Fedor make approximately 640,000 ice cream cones at Affliction? Oh, would that he had more than two hands.)

We all knew there was no way in hell that Fedor Emelianenko only pocketed $300,000 for throttling Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned, as was reported in the official payout figures from the CSAC. Word had it that he got “a sizable” amount of his money in the form of a signing bonus. Now FightLine.com says they have sources telling them that the figure was $1.3 million, bringing his total cheddar from the event to $1.6 million.

Sizable? Yeah, we’d say so. Especially since he owns the right to his fight footage in Europe, which is both a little weird and totally awesome. So this seems to be more in line with what we’d expect Fedor to be getting paid, right? After all, if Tim Sylvia got $800,000, and Fedor is at least twice as valuable, $1.6 mill is right on the button.

But if we’re to believe everything we read (and we do, even science fiction, which explains why we’re terrified of Asimov’s robots) Fedor was offered and declined a deal for more money with the UFC. Dave Meltzer wrote recently that Emelianenko was offered “a seven-figure signing bonus and a minimum of $1.5 million per fight.”

If that’s true — and we’ll point out that Meltzer is probably getting his info from the UFC on this one, who also once claimed that they totally weren’t offering Fedor waaaaaay more than Randy Couture, who as you’ll recall got pissed off enough to leave behind these failed negotiations — then something isn’t adding up here. Or else Fedor and his management team love their video rights and their freedom more than cash. Or else they’re dumb.

(Fighter salaries for Affliction: Banned, from SI.com via MMA Mania. Click for larger image.)

One major caveat before we get started — there’s no way that Fedor Emelianenko made a half-million less than Tim Sylvia to be on this card. Either he was given a large signing bonus, or he’s getting a cut of the PPV, or both. No, I don’t have a source on that; you’ll just have to trust me.

Now that that’s out of the way, HOLY CRAP. There’s a difference between paying well and guaranteeing that your promotion will be a money-loser. When they left the UFC, Andrei Arlovski was making $105,000 to show with a $65,000 win bonus, and Tim Sylvia was making $100,000/$100,000. Atencio & Co. could have very generously offered these guys double what they were making, with the promise that contracts could be renegotiated when Affliction’s MMA promotion gets on its feet, financially speaking. In its infinite wisdom, Affliction quintupled and octupled Arlovski and Sylvia’s previous base salaries right off the freakin’ bat. Dana White is seeing these numbers and laughing his pale ass off.

(Photo courtesy of the UFC.)

The UFC’s impromptu SpikeTV card cost them $623,000 in fighter payroll, the breakdown of which is below (props to MMAJunkie). Looks like Anderson Silva is now making a lot more than he did for his last fight, though that could just be a one-time bump for helping suck some of the interest from “Banned.” Here are the numbahs:

Anderson Silva: $200,000 (no win bonus issued)
Brandon Vera: $200,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus)
Frankie Edgar: $51,000 (includes $13,000 win bonus and $25,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
CB Dollaway: $45,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus and $25,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus)
Hermes Franca: $42,000 (includes $25,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
Rory Markham: $37,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus and $25,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus)
James Irvin: $20,000
Tim Credeur: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
Reese Andy: $15,000
Cain Velasquez: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Jake O’Brien: $11,000
Kevin Burns: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Brad Blackburn: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Anthony Johnson: $9,000
Nate Loughran: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
Jesse Taylor: $8,000
Cale Yarbrough: $8,000
Shannon Gugerty: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Johnny Rees: $4,000
Brodie Farber: $3,000
James Giboo: $3,000
Dale Hartt: $3,000

Underpaid: Anthony Johnson, who pocketed less than the living wage of $10,000 to show, while having to suffer the insult/injury of losing a fight via multiple eye-pokes. Everyone whose base salary was under $8,000 can be considered “pathetically underpaid” — that’s 45% of the fighters on this card, by the way — except for Rory Markham, thanks to his Golden Foot.

Overpaid: Brandon Vera is turning into one of the most overpaid human beings on Earth, in any profession. And it hurts me to say it, because the dude used to be a walking highlight reel. Look for the UFC to renegotiate his contract at their first opportunity. Now they know better than to invest a six-figure contract into a “next big thing” heavyweight. Sucks to be you, Cain Velasquez — Vera just cockblocked your wallet.

The CSAC has released official salary figures for last Friday’s “Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson” event; Gilbert Melendez topped the money list despite being used as a punching bag by “The Punk” for five rounds. Here are the numbers:

Josh Thomson: $35,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Gilbert Melendez: $50,000
Billy Evangelista: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Nam Phan: $10,000
Bobby Southworth: $25,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
Anthony Ruiz: $200 (Ruiz received the majority of his purse as an advance)
Miesha Tate: $1,500 (includes $500 win bonus)
Elaina Maxwell: $4,000
Jeremiah Metcalf: $8,500 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Raymond Daniels: $10,000
Chris Cariaso: $6,000 (no win bonus)
Anthony Figueroa: $5,000
Bobby Stack: $3,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Jose Palacios: $3,000
Brian Caraway: $3,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Alvin Cacdac: $3,000
Cyrillo Padilha: $2,500 (includes $750 win bonus)
Jesse Jones: $2,000
Jorge Interiano: $1,500 (includes $500 win bonus)
Travis Johnson: $2,000
Alexandre Trivino: $1,500 (includes $500 win bonus)
Eric Jacob: $1,000
Eric Lawson: $8,000 (includes $1,000 stoppage bonus)
Jesse Gillespie: $3,500
Total payroll: $203,200
Live gate revenue: $355,487 from 7,288 spectators

Underpaid: Miesha Tate, who needs to immediately fire her agent and hook up with whoever’s handling Gina Carano’s career. She’s a hot chick who can kick ass — $1,000 to show is fuggo money, kid.

Overpaid: Raymond Daniels. I know I’m not the only one who was disgusted by his grandstanding entrance/psyche-up, not to mention that he seemingly came into the match with the attitude that he didn’t need to learn takedown defense or ground-fighting. He got a much-needed beating, to be sure, but he didn’t earn that $10,000 consolation prize.

Related: Over at MMA Payout, Kelsey Philpott argues for a UFC minimum base salary of $10,000 per fight. I’ve been saying that for months, but Philpott actually takes the time to explain why that figure works, and why it’s necessary. Definitely worth a read.

(Dustin Hazelett earning his bonus money. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

The list of official salaries from the Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale has been released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The numbers are below; each winning fighter’s payout represents a doubling of his base salary.

Diego Sanchez: $70,000
Dustin Hazelett: $64,000 (includes $20,000 Submission of the Night bonus and $20,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Drew McFedries: $46,000 (includes $20,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Spencer Fisher: $36,000
Kendall Grove: $32,000
Josh Burkman: $30,000 (includes $20,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Dean Lister: $28,000
Jeremy Horn: $25,000
Evan Tanner: $25,000
Amir Sadollah: $16,000
Matthew Riddle: $16,000
Jeremy Stephens: $16,000
Matt Brown: $16,000
Luigi Fioravanti: $10,000
Marvin Eastman: $9,000
C.B. Dollaway: $8,000
Dante Rivera: $8,000
Matt Arroyo: $8,000
Tim Credeur: $8,000*
Cale Yarbrough: $8,000*
Rob Kimmons: $6,000
Rob Yundt: $5,000

* Credeur and Yarbrough both reportedly received their to-show salaries, even though their match was canceled the night of the fight due to Credeur testing positive for Adderall.

($225,000: Enough to buy a new pickup truck and a healthy white baby.)

Official salary and bonus numbers for UFC 84′s fighters have been released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Here’s how the guys stacked up:

B.J. Penn: $250,000 ($125,000 to show, $125,000 to win)
Wanderlei Silva: $225,000 ($150,000 to show*, $75,000 for Knockout of the Night)
Tito Ortiz: $210,000
Lyoto Machida: $100,000 ($50,000 to show, $50,000 to win)
Wilson Gouveia: $93,000 ($18,000 to show, $75,000 for Fight of the Night)
Rousimar Palhares: $85,000 ($5,000 to show, $5,000 to win, $75,000 for Submission of the Night)
Goran Reljic: $81,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win, $75,000 for Fight of the Night)
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: $80,000 ($40,000 to show, $40,000 to win)
Thiago Silva: $50,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 to win)
Rich Clementi: $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 to win)
Dong Hyun Kim: $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 to win)
Sean Sherk: $35,000
Kazuhiro Nakamura: $20,000
Ivan Salaverry: $20,000
Shane Carwin: $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 to win)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida: $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 to win)
Terry Etim: $10,000
Keith Jardine: $10,000
Christian Wellisch: $10,000
Jon Koppenhaver: $8,000
Antonio Mendes: $4,000
Jason Tan: $3,000
* Wanderlei Silva’s guaranteed $150,000 salary doesn’t depend on a win bonus.

Overpaid: Wilson Gouveia. Looking back on UFC 84 a year from now, is the two-round almost-war between Gouveia and Goran Reljic going to be remembered by anyone? Yes, Reljic’s relentless left head-kicks were pretty, but Gouveia should have eventually figured out that they were coming. (For us, the presence of Mirko Cro Cop in Reljic’s corner was the early tip-off.)

Underpaid: A lot of people — particularly Shane Carwin, whose Knockout of the Night bonus was robbed from him by Wanderlei Silva. The way I saw it, Carwin’s single-punch, mouthpiece-ejecting KO of Christian Wellisch was more deserving then Wandy’s slightly more prolonged ground-and-pound TKO of Jardine, and Carwin could probably use the money more. Other than that, what the fuck is up with the UFC’s newcomers making three, four, and six thousand dollars to show? Goddamned slave wages. The UFC made $3.7 million off of “Ill Will”‘s gate; they could certainly afford to establish a minimum base salary of $10,000 for their fighters if they wanted to.

(The Fertitta brothers, preparing to order something expensive.)

The poor get poorer while the rich land on the cover of Forbes: Financial stability was a recurring theme in MMA this week, as two prominent leagues face death while another cemented its place at the top. First the bad news…

— The IFL filed their 10k SEC report on Tuesday, and things are looking grim. Since the league was founded in January 2006, it has suffered losses of $31 million. Last year’s revenues weren’t nearly enough the make up for the $15.9 million it spent on events; notably, the IFL only took in $498,000 in sponsorship revenue and $117,544 in branded merchandise sales in 2007. At this rate, the company won’t be able to survive past the third quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, and due to their continued losses, the IFL’s auditors have included a paragraph in their financial statements questioning their financial viability, which will make it even harder for the IFL to secure the additional financing it needs to sustain operations. As the report says, “If revenues grow slower than we anticipate, or if operating expenses exceed our expectations or cannot be adjusted accordingly, we may not achieve profitability and the value of your investment could decline significantly.”

— An earlier rumor that BodogFight was near death gained more traction yesterday with MMAWeekly’s report that the Bodog subsidiary may be ceasing operations next week. The company lost a reported $38 million in 2007, and hasn’t announced any more events since it sponsored a Las Vegas Tuff-N-Uff show in February. From the article:

Asked if the company was folding, one executive who declined to be named told MMAWeekly.com, “I can neither confirm or deny that.”

When asked what Bodog Fight was currently working on, the executive responded, “I’m sitting in an empty office.”

Of course, in the land of the Octagon, it’s all champagne and caviar…