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Lesnar Tops Money Earners of UFC 121′s Reported $1.5 Million Payroll With $400,000


(Pic props PeterYongArt)

Brock Lesnar may have been the biggest loser at last weekend’s UFC 121 event, but the former UFC heavyweight champion was also compensated the most out of any of the fighters on the card for his performance against Cain Velasquez in California.

According to figures released by the California State Athletic Commission, Lesnar pocketed a cool $400,000 for his knockout loss to Velasquez, which may or may not have been partially used to purchase some burritos and Coronas that night.

Check out the breakdown after the jump of who made what Saturday night from the reported $1.513 million payroll and $280,000 "of the Night" bonuses.


UFC 121 Fighter Salaries and Bonus Breakdown
Total Reported Payroll: $1.513 milion.
Total "of the Night" Bonuses: $280,000

Cain Velasquez: $270,000 (includes $100,000 win and $70,000 Knockout of the Night bonuses) 
def. Brock Lesnar: $400,000

Jake Shields: $150,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus)
def. Martin Kampmann: $27,000

Diego Sanchez: $170,000 (includes $50,000 win and $70,000 Fight of the Night bonuses)
def. Paulo Thiago: $88,000 (includes $70,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Matt Hamill: $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus)
def. Tito Ortiz: $250,000

Brendan Schaub: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Gabriel Gonzaga: $67,000

Court McGee: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Ryan Jensen: $10,000

Tom Lawlor: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Patrick Cote: $21,000

Daniel Roberts: $86,000 (includes $8,000 win and $70,000 Submission of the Night bonuses)
def. Mike Guymon: $8,000

Sam Stout: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
def. Paul Taylor: $16,000

Chris Camozzi: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Dongi Yang: $8,000

Jon Madsen: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Gilbert Yvel: $30,000

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mayday- October 27, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Comparing payouts to boxing is pretty futile I think.

In MMA, you can be "the baddest man on the planet" and have a professional record in the single digits... You don't even have to be undefeated.

In MMA, you can dethrone said "baddest man on the planet" with a number of fights you can count on your fingers and toes...

Even if you're a fat amputated diabetic.

The bottom line: boxers spend a lot longer building their careers before they make the big bucks. While Mayweather may receive disclosed millions per fight, he's had more than triple the number of fights that the new UFC heavyweight champion has.

It's not apples to oranges... It's apples to fat diabetes causing brownies.
0 0 Reply
ccman- October 27, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Doesn't a portion of sponsor money go to promotors not fighters in boxing?

And agreed, couture makes over 2 mil a fight after rev share ect. Otherwise take all of liddel paydays and explain his wealth. Nevermind one thing I really like in ufc model, they take care of the pioneers who really helped build the company. Even tito gets some love even though he ducked out and bad mouthed them during the early profitable years. He's tryin to make it up now as evidenced by his weigh in shirt.
0 0 Reply
knucklesamitch- October 27, 2010 at 12:03 pm
$250,000 is exactly what reconstruction on Tito's old lady's vag costs.
0 0 Reply
Shnook1200- October 27, 2010 at 11:19 am
Tito's $250,000 will be able to buy a lot of empty Broadway seats in the near future.
0 0 Reply
LET IT RAIN- October 27, 2010 at 10:40 am
nobody wants to watch Tito anymore DW. Save your money and sign more talent.
0 0 Reply
vengful1- October 27, 2010 at 10:13 am
5/11 fights the loser got paid more. That's fucking stupid.
0 0 Reply
FlashinLeather- October 27, 2010 at 10:04 am
also, if the UFC didn't want to pay tito 250 they could have cut him a long time ago, UFC contracts allow the organization to cut any fighter after a loss (i think)
0 0 Reply
RwilsonR- October 27, 2010 at 9:51 am
How long have you guys been paying attention to UFC payouts? Especially someone like MRuss shoudl know better.

First, that disclosed payroll isn't anywehre close to what the actual payout is for this fight. Brock pockets somewhere in the $3+ million per fight range. I believe Tito still gets a piece of the PPV revenue, as well, and prob made over a mil.

Second, the UFC actually has a middle class. Boxing doesn't pay anyone in the $30K-$150K range. They have the headliners that make a shitload, and then the rest that make what the very bottom end guys in the UFC make.

Third, it is a completely different promotional model. The UFC pays for all of the production and promotion for all of their events, and keeps it all in-house. They also aren't one-off events, and they need to continually promote the next event. It actually borrows a bit from the WWE and boxing, but still has a different model that a huge boxing fight. One of the problems with boxing is those giant pay days, and only looking at the single event, and not the sport's growth.

So could the UFC prob pay fighters more? Yes. But it isn't as cut and dry as looking and this one pay day and comparing it to a Mayweather payout. If you really want to compare, ask Mayweather how much he made for his sixth fight? I guarantee Brock made much more.
0 0 Reply
Ballkick- October 27, 2010 at 8:17 am
As of 2010 viewers can access UFC programming on pay-per-view television in the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Italy.

Ok this is just a consevative estimate, by no means based on fact but assuming that in the five countries listed above, 1 million veiwers per country, each person purchasing the event for roughly $50.00 US per person,....thats 250 Million (US)worth of PPV.
I know they dont get to keep all that, there is profit sharing etc,...but even if they only keep 10%, thats still 25 Million (US) per card.
Now Multipy that with the amout of cards per year, This year there will be 23 fight cards minus 7 free cards (UFC Fight Nights) Leaves 16 UFC Cards to make PPV buys on.
16 X 25(Million) = 400 Million (US) just in PPV revenue alone!

This is a very conservative estimate,....and all they Pay someone like Martin Kampmann with 11 fights in the UFC,.... is $27,000.00?
Cheap fucking cocksuckers,....never feel bad about streaming a UFC event ever again.
0 0 Reply
ClubberLame- October 27, 2010 at 7:55 am
Dear Fellow Geniuses,

I'm sure these payments are locked in per contract, bonuses not withstanding. Tito got paid that per contract.

They don't take a look at the "cash register" at the gate and sling out whatever they feel like paying fighters that night.

If they did Tito would of made $250 based on that performance.

Heeeeyyyyoooo!
0 0 Reply
Bruce_Buffer- October 27, 2010 at 7:32 am
I'd fight matt hamill for 250k. 5 years pay > Getting KTFO
0 0 Reply
JoseMonkey- October 27, 2010 at 7:11 am
The good news here is while there are some clear cases of fighters being overpaid here, I don't see an obviously underpaid fighter.
0 0 Reply
J-Dog- October 27, 2010 at 5:33 am
Looks like Cock Chestnar is doing the old double-fisted clean and jerk of his penis tattoo in that pic. Epic!
0 0 Reply
RearNakedSpoon- October 27, 2010 at 3:45 am
Why don't they just scale the amount each fight will get from undercard to main card and then split the designated fight money 1/3 to the loser and 2/3 to the winner and add any bonus the fighters are awarded.
This way fighters are encouraged more to win then just make a name for themselves (BJJ guys trying to see more exciting by keeping it on the feet and failing and vice versa) and fighters will be a lot more keen to jump up in competition level earlier.

Getting payed more to lose a fight then the winner gets is just monumentally stupid, especially in the Tito vs Hamill result, so very very stupid.

Worrying about how much they get in boxing is irrelevant right now. MMA fights with a bit of sense and obvious skill will make more a very good wage, unless you have a weed addiction like Nick Diaz apparently :rolleyes:
0 0 Reply
Almost North- October 27, 2010 at 12:14 am
^The same reason anyone does anything, it was on TV.
0 0 Reply
thurmonator- October 26, 2010 at 11:19 pm
"Lesnar pocketed a cool $400,000..."

For the life of me I can not figure out why anyone would add "cool" before revealing a dollar amount. I've seen this everywhere online and it makes me want to stab my eyes out every fucking time I read it, but could someone please explain why the need to place "cool" in front of the amount? Why? WHY DO YOU DO THIS???
0 0 Reply
boober- October 26, 2010 at 10:45 pm
wait, What!? tim Sylvia got 800k to show?!
0 0 Reply
Peetee- October 26, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Maybe they should just give the majority of the pot to the winner, and always pay a proper bonus for early stoppage, then we might see some fighting instead of winning with takedowns...
0 0 Reply
dogpt3- October 26, 2010 at 9:43 pm
from what I gather the UFC won't disclose actual PPV sales, and also they will pay discreet bonuses to fighters outside of what they report to us, but regardless of that, Dana pays his fighters way less than he could afford to, with boxing there are so many different promoters and whatnot that boxers have to be paid more because if you underpay a fighter someone else will pay him more, in UFC is a monopoly and says if you dont like what we pay you go fight for somebody else.
0 0 Reply
Get Off Me- October 26, 2010 at 9:04 pm
"Does Zuffa just keep the money?"

Yes, so don't be looking for the more well rounded talent level to change anytime soon...training part time while working to keep the lights on does not lend itself to becoming an elite fighter.
0 0 Reply
Anhonestmoose- October 26, 2010 at 8:56 pm
@ almostnorth
I think most of the money from the big boxing cards go to the headliners, not much left over for the rest of the card. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Fertitas are using most of the profit to pay off their failing casinos.
0 0 Reply
djp1988- October 26, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Tito is going to give that money to science.

"Together is the only way we can cure deaf."

-Tito Ortiz
0 0 Reply
Ballkick- October 26, 2010 at 8:19 pm
I have often wondered about the discrepancy between Boxing purse's and MMA purse's.
When Floyd Mayweather, Jr makes 35 MILLION for a fight Compared to Royce Gracie and Rickson Gracie (who's rumored 2 million for fighting Funaki is the largest purse ever). Note.....Not in the UFC. That makes me wonder where all the cash is going?

IMO
Jake Shields: $150,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus) is the most outrageous sum for a boring fighter who should have lost.....oh and another bonus for his effort,....a title shot,.... Fuck me!
0 0 Reply
Almost North- October 26, 2010 at 7:47 pm
I'm going to look into this....it just doesn't seem to make any sense the amount of money still in boxing.

Edit:
From what I can find the buyrate for UFC fights in the last few years is actually only slightly lower than the major boxing PPVS. Does Zuffa just keep the money?
0 0 Reply
Mike Russell- October 26, 2010 at 7:23 pm
@almost. Apparently it's the mostly over 35 caucasian and the hispanic demographic.
0 0 Reply

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