
(Serra’s recent training with striking coach Brad Ferro is already paying dividends. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)
The UFC handed out $1,184,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for Saturday night’s show, with Randy Couture and Matt Serra‘s $200,000+ checks leading the pack. Check out the numbers below, and keep in mind that the figures don’t include additional income from sponsorships, undisclosed locker room bonuses, and cuts of the pay-per-view (Couture), or deductions for taxes, insurance, licensing fees, and monthly Life Alert payments (Coleman).
Randy Couture: $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Mark Coleman: $60,000
Chael Sonnen: $124,000 (includes $32,000 win bonus, $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
def. Nate Marquardt: $105,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Paulo Thiago: $90,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus, $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Mike Swick: $43,000
Demian Maia: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus)
def. Dan Miller: $15,000
Matt Serra: $210,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus, $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Frank Trigg: $30,000
Mac Danzig: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Justin Buchholz: $8,000
Melvin Guillard: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Ronys Torres: $4,000
Rob Emerson: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Phillipe Nover: $10,000
Phil Davis: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
def. Brian Stann: $17,000
Chris Tuchscherer: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Tim Hague: $7,000
Joey Beltran: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Rolles Gracie: $15,000
Underpaid: It’s surprising that a prospect like Phil Davis — with his lofty hype and top-shelf wrestling credentials — was brought in under a $5k/$5k contract, which is usually reserved for guys without many other options. (If Strikeforce didn’t try to pick him up, or if they were outbid at $5,000, they’re fools.) Sucks that he’ll be beating up his next two opponents for the same measly pay.
Overpaid: Rolles Gracie, whose to-show money was three times higher than Davis’s, simply because of his last name. As we saw on Saturday, a legendary lineage won’t prevent you from gassing out completely in the second round.








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commentsSaw that too. Made a definite head scratch on that one. Guess Swick had better representation when contract talks happened. Don't know how many more fights Thiago is contracted to fight at $15K but I'm sure his appearance fee will go up next time they're at the table, if he continues to add Ws - and good ones for that matter.
Lol
I would have to give him a 0.5 as he at least put in enough effort to gas. I takes a special kind of Susanne to show up to a fight and run away the whole time.
On a side note its good to see coleman got a little scratch to put gas in his car... I would have loved to see that fight 10-15 years ago. You're a good man coleman
I guess in Serra's case it's easier to convince your boss to pay you that much when he knows you're only going to fight once a year anyway.
could have made more on the ultimate fighter.
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