(Evan Dunham fattens up his 401k with this slick finish. Props: UG)
If you were to look through the disclosed payouts from UFC Fight Night 20 and use them to form conclusions about which fighters are most valuable to their employers, you’d probably come up with some pretty hilariously wrong results. You’d also probably get a little bit sad for the guys at the bottom of the card, though when is that not the case on a Spike TV fight card? Check out the salary breakdown below, via Sherdog, but keep in mind that it doesn’t include undisclosed bonuses, sponsorship money, fees, or spare change found on the floor of the locker room:
Gray Maynard: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Nate Diaz: $48,000
Evan Dunham: $48,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus, $30,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Efrain Escudero: $15,000
Aaron Simpson: $52,000 (includes $11,000 win bonus, $30,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
def. Tom Lawlor: $40,000 (includes $30,000 Fight of the Night bonus
Amir Sadollah: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Brad Blackburn: $13,000
Chris Leben: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Jay Silva: $6,000
Ricky Story: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
def. Jesse Lennox: $7,000
Nik Lentz: $7,000 (draw, no win bonus)
def. Thiago Tavares: $15,000 (ditto)
Rafael dos Anjos: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Kyle Bradley: $8,000
Gerald Harris: $42,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus, $30,000 KO of the Night bonus)
def. John Salter: $6,000
Nick Catone: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
def. Jesse Forbes: $6,000
Underpaid: Anybody making six or seven grand in show money with the UFC. You’d like to think that getting to the big show would treat you a little better than that, but it’s a long uphill climb, unfortunately. Apart from that, how is Dunham one of the UFC’s brightest young prospects, and yet only making nine and nine? That’s gotta change.
Overpaid: Chris Leben, obviously. The guy’s on the prelims of a Fight Night making thirty and thirty, while the main evente winner can’t even crack fifty grand. That’s not exactly money well spent on the UFC’s part.
Related: If you assumed that Tom Lawlor was flying high, even in defeat, just because he got a little bonus cash, he has a message for you:
I lost a split decision
windows on my comp has an error and my laptop barely works now
my cornerman got hit in the head by another cornerman, with our corner bucket and made our hotel room look like a crime scene
I went to a bar, got drunk, and not one girl even looked at me after the fight
I repeated the last sentence, the next night
and this morning my parent’s Astro-Van wouldn’t start on our way home from breakfast
congrats to Aaron Simpson
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comments"Total payout was about 350k, with a gate of near 750k.
Yeah, the UFC has gotta pay these bottom guys a little better. "
i agree with the sentiment, but you also have to take into consideration the cost of paying the venue staff, the event staff, a percentage of ticket sales would go to the ticketing company (ticketmaster or whoever), etc. not to mention all the different people within the UFC organization itself that get paid for the work as promoter. they may have 450k left over after fighter salaries, but not all of it is profit after everyone else has taken their share out.
But most of your mid-lower tier guys are basically just training at their gym. They pay the same membership as everyone else except they're getting invited to the Pro class for guys that actually train. The teaching inclined are probably teaching at the gym so they're actually making money to work there.
As for medical bills, I was always under the impression that UFC paid for it when guys got hurt.
I'm sure there are some guys who are just scraping by, but honestly, I trained MT with a guy who got tooled by Chris Horodecki earlier this year, and he was driving a tricked out Escalade. He didn't look to be barely scraping by. There's a ton of money to be made from MMA...why do you think so many companies are getting into it?
It's naive to assume that the only source of income a fighter has is their disclosed pay, and that they're spending tons and tons of cash to become a top fighter. It's just not realistic. If you're fighting because you're mildly retarded and you have no sense of business and aren't doing anything else to further yourself? Yeah, you'll probably be scraping by. But you'd be scraping by doing anything else, too.
Im sure his endorsements and sponorships help pay for his training. Im also sure that 100k check he get for his last fight helped
I think it's a six figure, four, five or six fight contract. Must be back ended :)
I'm not bitching here, but you gotta start paying out the fighters better, they will become better fighters as a result, it's like awarding scholarships, it's a return on investment type deal.
30 to show, 30 to win is the least the UFC could do.
Tavares will next return to the Octagon at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale when he faces TUF 2 veteran, Melvin Guillard.
Nick Catone is currently scheduled to be Amir's next opponent. The bout should take place at UFC 91.
Dunham... fights in the lightweight division (185 lbs.) will return to the Octagon at UFC 102 when he faces off against Matt Veach on the show's undercard.
Seriously, guys, step it up (and dance).
Also, where is the info for Rory Mac / Guymon fight? Over on mmamania they have it listed but it just says "N/A" for salary. I was curious about this one in particular as it was Rory's debut. I mean, odds are he got six and six but I'm still curious.
Total payout was about 350k, with a gate of near 750k.
Yeah, the UFC has gotta pay these bottom guys a little better. Maybe its motivation win fights, but I think these guys are probably plenty motivated all ready. If you only fight three times a year at six and six and you win twice with one loss and no bonuses you're making 30k. Thats not bad, except when you have to pay out trainers, medical bills, etc
If anyone has the RoryMac numbers plz post!
2 SOTN 3 FOTN in last five fights. Winner of TUF 5. Sadollah makes 30k to fight just based off of TUF. The UFC does have to work on their pay scales, but Diaz is worth the 40k if Rashad is making 300+.
All first comments are bitches.
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