($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)
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.
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commentsI mean, there's got to be a couple million of us dutifully dropping $45 for PPV - in some cases multiple times a month - and considering the infrastructure is all in place shouldn't a large % of this be pure profit..?
You're potentially talking hundreds of millions per event, where the fuck is all that going..?
De La Hoya v Mayweather pulled in $120M on PPV alone - albeit a totally different audience but that's where UFC is heading.. When will mma fighters start making millions instead of thousands?
Like many professional athletes, they've only got a few years at the top of their game until it's time to go back to being Doormen at the local nightclub..
Didn't I hear Frank Shamrock v Cung Le split 50% of the Gate for that event - around 800K between them..? If Tito's smart (which he's not) he'll go and promote his own shit like Frank Shamrock is and make a ton more $ fighting far less fights. Don't get me wrong, I hate Tito with the best of em..
Still, I hate Tito
Hey Toner...Get out from under Dana's desk...
Unfortunately the only reference to MMA is the UFC in the common viewers eyes...That is why I am happy to see these other factions starting to come together. When EliteXC starts to make money, and they will, fighters will start to jump ship as soon as they see there are better alternatives to the UFC. Currently there isn't....
As soon as Dana sees his fighters leaving, he will have no choice but to share the rightfully deserved wealth with his fighters if he wants them stay.
Dana is a savy businessman....but he looks out for #1 and not the fighters or the future of the sport!
On a serious note though, while the pay should be upped, if they start giving in to random fighters it's going to spiral out of control and pretty soon a guy who is totally unknown is gonna be making big bucks for nothing.
The pay should go up in proportion to the increased exposure of the UFC, no point upping the salaries if the intake isn't increasing, it's a business, the fighters sign the contracts and get sponsors, this is all.
I do agree that Tito is a whiny bitch and should retire though...
You've gotta be Tito... you whine just like him
IMHO:
Dana is putting in order into the chaos that is MMA currently and he is doing a damn good job of it. This sport is growing rapidly and can easily go astray. Someone laying down the law like Dana White is what is needed. Giving into the whims of fighters that say they need more money when the UFC is doing well is the road to disaster (business-wise). He is a good businessman and even though he comes across like an asshole sometimes, he is doing a hell of a job... plus I think he genuinely loves the sport.
Again, this is just an opinion, but if someone thinks he is screwed for our sport, I'd like to hear the alternative. There isn't another show out there that pays it's fighters more (overall) and I think the salaries are just going to increase.
If you dont like the job your in then find a new one, why should these guys be any diffrent than us out in the real world who only make $40,000 a year?
If you were a better fighter you would be paid more. You want more money than win more fights..... WTF is so hard to understand here?
People seem to forget that all of these guys have sponsers that pay them as too, that would not be around if it was not for the UFC.
Stop crying about your f-ng $$$ and go fight!
Can't anyone see how screwed he is for our sport...?
Maybe a MMA commision to help set/regulate purses isn't a bad idea....?....Trust me, it's coming in the near future!
To my knowledge, Dana said that Carwin had the bonus locked up *until* Wanderlei's knockout. Yeah, I should have mentioned "some of these fighters got locker room bonuses," but who knows to whom and how much. Carwin was probably taken care of to some extent.
@ Micah:
Clearly, but are you adding the ten million or so they made from the PPV?
@ C-Bus, etc:
Tito complains about Tito making $500,000-$1 million per fight (including sponsorships and PPV points) instead of $4 million. I don't think I've ever heard him mention the guys that are getting $3,000 to show.
@ TheFeniX: The UFC is the only promotion that is generating enough income to pay all their fighters a living wage, but they often choose not to, which is what upsets me. Yeah, EliteXC has paid guys $500 for their debuts, but they're also still hemorrhaging money at this point.
Tito is a whiny bitch and should retire after his last performance.
Also I thought Dana said at the post-fight press conference that BOTH Silva and Carwin received a bonus for KO of the night?
unless it was all a "tito is retarded" reference... then in that case, its funny
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:PAp036okVMkJ:mrsunshinevegas.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/keith-jardine-talks-liddell-win-and-ufc-contracts/+keith+jardine+ufc+contract&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
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