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In recent weeks, Bloody Elbow has been covering many of the notable filings and documents that have been unsealed from the UFC anti-trust lawsuit.
These include leaked emails and texts from UFC executives that revealed controversial and celebrated “nasty” fighter negotiation tactics, along with financial information on how Zuffa owners took out hundreds of millions each year from the company to pay themselves.
In a three-part exclusive, Bloody Elbow was also able to analyze the “Internal Zuffa Bout Compensation” list to transpose and determine previously unreleased UFC payouts from their biggest stars like Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar and others. We then followed up with more likely UFC payouts from 33 champions, and nearly 50 more UFC payouts for other stars like Nick and Nate Diaz, and some of the most tenured fighters in the roster.
For those who missed the first three parts or have yet to subscribe to our Substack, below is the full (and free) list of UFC payouts that Bloody Elbow’s Anton Tabuena and John S. Nash have uncovered. These include all the numbers from the earlier three parts, plus a few more we’ve uncovered since, along with some eye opening statistics about UFC fighter pay.
With this being a long and extensive post, you can use the navigation tools we have on the side for quicker browsing.
How did we figure out the likely UFC payouts of all these fighters?
As previously noted, an appendix from the unsealed Roger D. Blair’s expert report had an “Internal Zuffa Bout Compensation” that listed the payouts to every UFC fighter from 2011 to 2016.
Individual fighter names weren’t listed, but the report does include how many bouts that fighter has had in the UFC at that point, along with how many fighters received such a payout.
Combining that with information from disclosed purses from lawsuits, athletic commissions, along with confirmation from several fighters on background, we were able to parse through the sheet and make a fairly educated guess to identify the most likely UFC payouts for almost a hundred MMA stars.
For example, while it might be hard to identify one of the 4 fighters who were paid $27,000 for their 7th fight in the UFC in 2016, it’s easier to surmise that the outlying UFC debutant in 2016 with a $1,042,736 payout was CM Punk. Or that the only possible candidate for a fighter earning $4,374,326 in his 18th UFC fight in 2013 would have been Anderson Silva.
It’s worth noting that while many of the biggest totals match our other sources, there could always be inaccuracies and human error involved in these sheets — like how former heavyweight UFC champion Cain Velasquez’s UFC payout for his 14th fight in the promotion was listed as the 15th bout instead.
That being said, here’s everything we saw after doing a deep dive into the document.
Median UFC payout was $29,000 during class period
John S. Nash compiled some interesting statistics looking at the overall UFC payouts from the entire class period.
From 2011-2016, there were 5004 total bout compensations.
Total compensation: $505,028,484
Lowest UFC payout: $4,000 for one fighter on his third fight in 2011
Highest UFC payout: $8,000,000 for Brock Lesnar in 2016
Mean Average: $100,925
Stats: UFC payouts per year
2011
600 total bout compensations
Total compensation: $65,315,210
Lowest UFC payout: $4,000 for one fighter on their third UFC fight.
Highest UFC payout: $4,314,289 for Georges St-Pierre
Mean Average: $108,859
Median Average: $14,500
2012
682 total bout compensations
Total compensation: $59,996,307
Lowest UFC payout: $6,000 for one debuting fighter and two on their second UFC fight.
Highest UFC payout: $3,197,908 for Georges St-Pierre
Mean Average: $87,971
Median Average: $25,000
2013
773 total bout compensations
Total compensation: $82,064,874
Lowest UFC payout: $8,000 for four debuting fighters, and two on their second UFC fight
Highest UFC payout: $4,374,326 for Anderson Silva
Mean Average: $106,164
Median Average: $20,000
2014
1018 total bout compensations
Total compensation: $62,722,405
Lowest UFC payout: $8,000 for four debuting fighters
Highest UFC payout: $1,237,880 for Jon Jones
Mean Average: $61,613
Median Average: $25,000
2015
945 total bout compensations
Total compensation: $98,346,976
Lowest UFC payout: $6,400 for one fighter on their second UFC fight
Highest UFC payout: $4.54M and $4.48M, for Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey
Mean Average: $104,071
Median Average: $29,000
2016
986 total bout compensations
Total compensation: $136,582,712
Lowest UFC payout: $10,000 for five debutants
Highest UFC payout: $8,000,000 for Brock Lesnar
Mean Average: $138,522
Median Average: $36,000
Share of compensation
Splitting the 5004 UFC payouts into five equal parts or quintiles, we see that the top 20% get 76.2% of the total fighter compensation, while the rest of the field split the remaining 23.8% of the money.
The middle quintile averaged just under $30,000, which is close to the median pay for the class period. The bottom two quintiles, or 40% of the total payouts, had fighters receiving less than $24,000.
Bottom Quintile
Total: $11,687,150
Min: $4,000
Max: $15,000
Average: $11,675
2nd Quintile
Total: $19,450,800
Min: 15,000
Max: $24,000
Average: $19,431
Middle Quintile
Total: $29,995,700
Min: $24,000
Max: $40,000
Average: $29,996
4th Quintile
Total: $58,865,150
Min: $40,000
Max: $82,200
Average: $58,806
Top Quintile
Total: $383,589,799
Min: $82,500
Max: $8,000,000
Average: $383,207
Headliner bonuses
Most of the headliners of Fight Night events we’ve seen on this UFC payout sheet seem to have received a $25,000 bonus.
UFC payouts for champions
Women’s bantamweight
Ronda Rousey
$574,720 vs. Liz Carmouche — Disclosed purse: $90,000 (45K/45K)
$1,817,907 vs. Miesha Tate — Disclosed purse: $250,000 (50K/50K + 150K bonus)
$870,969 vs. Sara McMann — Disclosed purse: $160,000 (55K/55K + 50K bonus)
$1,063,688 vs. Alexis Davis — Disclosed purse: $170,000 (60K/60K + 50K bonus)
$1,458,282 vs. Cat Zingano — Disclosed purse: $180,000 (65K/65K + 50K bonus)
$2,642,204 vs. Bethe Correia
$4,476,662 or $4,536,932 vs. Holly Holm
$4,879,766 vs. Amanda Nunes — Disclosed purse: $3,000,000
Notes:
Recently unsealed lawsuit documents also included Professor Robert Topel’s expert report that cites UFC payouts for Rousey during the class period: “Rousey was compensated $13 million for participation in seven UFC bouts of which she won six.”
This would be from the Carmouche win to the Holm loss, and the total would match the figures we transposed above from the expert report of Roger D. Blair.
Previous disclosures had revealed Ronda Rousey’s contract for her last two fights. She would have been paid a $3 million base purse ($500,000 of it was not a title fight) along with a PPV bonus, where she was to receive $1 for every PPV starting at 200-400k buys, $2 for every 400-600k buys, $3 for every 600-900k buys, and $4 over 900k buys.
Holly Holm
$1,100,000 vs. Ronda Rousey
$2,986,830 vs. Miesha Tate — Disclosed Purse: $500,000
Notes:
Tate fight was part of McGregor vs. Diaz card.
Amanda Nunes
$150,000 or $245,000 vs. Miesha Tate — Disclosed Purse: $150,000 (100K+50K bonus)
$1,837,354 vs. Ronda Rousey — Disclosed Purse: $250,000 (100K/100K+50K)
Miesha Tate
$453,000 vs. Ronda Rousey 2 — Disclosed Purse: $28,000
$2,048,343 vs. Amanda Nunes — Disclosed Purse: $500,000
Notes:
Tate had PPV cut as champion, and her UFC payout for the Nunes fight benefited from being in UFC 200.
Women’s Strawweight
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
$2,296,484 vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Notes:
Seems to be a numbering issue on the sheet, counting this total as the fourth fight in 2016, when it should’ve been Joanna’s 7th. She got a PPV cut and was part of the UFC 205 event with Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez headlining.
We were only able to determine a few UFC payouts from female champions. Outside of the few exceptions listed above, most of them didn’t really have high enough purses at the time and were hard to distinguish from the rest of the field.
Heavyweight
Brock Lesnar
$3,000,000 vs. Alistair Overeem — Disclosed purse: $400,000
$8,000,000 vs. Mark Hunt — Disclosed purse: $2,500,000
Notes:
Brock Lesnar’s $8 million purse for UFC 200 was the highest for years, with him forgoing a PPV cut and instead getting a set flat fee. He had a base purse of $2.5 million, with a $5.5 million side deal to get to his total.
Andrei Arlovski
$225,000 vs. Frank Mir — Disclosed purse: $225,000
$250,000 or $260,000 vs. Stipe Miocic — Disclosed purse: $250,000
$275,000 vs. Alistair Overeem
Josh Barnett
$220,000 vs. Roy Nelson
Junior dos Santos
$450,000 or $762,251 vs. Cain Velasquez 2 — Disclosed purse: $400,000
$335,000 vs. Stipe Miocic — Disclosed purse: $310,000 (130K/130K+50K bonus)
Stipe Miocic
$125,000 vs. Junior dos Santos — Disclosed purse: $80,000 (30K+50K bonus)
$692,736 vs. Alistair Overeem — Disclosed purse: $650,000 (600K+50K bonus)
Frank Mir
$400,000 or $475,000 vs. Roy Nelson — Disclosed purse: $250,000 (125K/125K)
$480,000 or $583,377 vs. Junior dos Santos — Disclosed purse: $200,000
$415,000 vs. Daniel Cormier — Disclosed purse: $200,000
$415,000 vs. Josh Barnett — Disclosed purse: $200,000
$415,000 vs. Alistair Overeem
$450,000 or $470,000 vs. Antonio Silva — Disclosed purse: $200,000
$475,000 vs. Todd Duffee — Disclosed purse: $250,000 (200K+50K bonus)
$110,000 vs. Andrei Arlovski
$400,000 vs. Mark Hunt
Cain Velasquez
$475,000 or $1,119,166 vs. Antonio Silva 2 — Disclosed purse: $400,000
$350,000 vs. Travis Browne — Disclosed purse: $350,000 ($300K+50K bonus)
Notes:
There seems to be a minor error on the sheet, listing this as the 15th fight for Cain, but should’ve been 14th.
Fabricio Werdum
$247,500 vs. Mark Hunt
Light heavyweight
Jon Jones
$2,278,553 vs. Rashad Evans — Disclosed purse: $400,000
$1,566,196 vs. Vitor Belfort
$2,750,000 vs. Chael Sonnen
$1,173,560 vs. Alexander Gustafsson
$1,237,880 vs. Glover Teixeira
$3,637,500 vs. Daniel Cormier 1 — Disclosed purse: $550,000 (500K+50K bonus)
$2,677,530 vs. Ovince St. Preux — Disclosed purse: $500,000
Notes:
Jon Jones clashed with the UFC over his pay for years, and it’s not hard to see why, given how the longtime top pound-for-pound star had smaller payouts than the other PPV draws on the list.
After years of negotiations and sitting on the sidelines, Jones reportedly signed a new 8-fight deal in 2023 that supposedly made him the “highest-paid UFC heavyweight” ever. As listed above, that recognition used to belong to Brock Lesnar who earned $8 million for UFC 200.
It’s worth asking if that new record setting figure for Jones is guaranteed like Lesnar’s for each of the eight fights on his deal, or if it is only for special circumstances (like holding the belt) and/or after clearing PPV targets.
Vitor Belfort
$500,000 vs. Jon Jones
$650,000 vs. Michael Bisping
$750,000 vs. Luke Rockhold
$850,000 vs. Dan Henderson
Randy Couture
$1,750,000 or $1,396,544 vs. Lyoto Machida
Daniel Cormier
$1,140,000 vs. Jon Jones 1
$630,000 or 1,000,000 vs. Anthony Johnson 1 — Disclosed purse: $230,000 (90K/90K+50K bonus)
$390,000 or $464,286 vs. Alexander Gustafsson
$2,048,343 vs. Anderson Silva — Disclosed purse: $500,000
Rashad Evans
$537,000 or $1,300,000 vs. Jon Jones — Disclosed purse: $300,000
$300,000 vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira — Disclosed purse: $300,000
$515,000 vs. Dan Henderson
$550,000 vs. Chael Sonnen — Disclosed purse: $250,000 (125K/125K)
Forrest Griffin
$500,000 vs. Rich Franklin — Disclosed purse: $275,000 (125K/150K)
$575,000 vs. Tito Ortiz — Disclosed purse: $350,000 (125K/150K+75K bonus)
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
$862,850 or $1,176,108 vs. Matt Hamill — Disclosed purse: $250,000
$857,143 or $1,705,969 vs. Jon Jones
$1,100,000 vs. Fabio Maldonado
Lyoto Machida
$329,000 vs. Randy Couture
$400,000 vs. Ryan Bader — Disclosed purse: $200,000
$200,000 vs. Phil Davis
$800,000 vs. Mark Munoz
$207,000 or $550,000 vs. Gegard Mousasi
$550,000 vs. Chris Weidman — Disclosed purse: $250,000 (200K+50K bonus)
$675,000 vs. CB Dollaway
$525,000 vs. Luke Rockhold
$200,000 or $500,000 vs. Yoel Romero — Disclosed purse: $200,000
Tito Ortiz
$820,370 vs. Ryan Bader — Disclosed purse: $525,000 (450K+75K bonus)
$1,221,632 vs. Rashad Evans
$1,396,544 or $1,750,000 vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
$2,542,792 vs. Forrest Griffin — Disclosed purse: $325,000 (250K+75K bonus)
Notes:
Griffin fight was part of the Sonnen vs. Silva 2 card.
Shogun Rua
$600,000 or $1,000,000 vs. James Te Huna
$285,000 or $530,000 vs. Dan Henderson 2
$550,000 vs. Ovince Saint Preux
Middleweight
Anderson Silva
$2,506,034 vs. Vitor Belfort — Disclosed purse: $275,000 (200K+75K bonus)
$2,000,000 vs. Yushin Okami
$2,506,034 vs. Chael Sonnen 2 — Disclosed purse: $275,000 (200K+75K bonus)
$2,000,000 vs. Stephan Bonnar
$3,222,253 vs. Chris Weidman — Disclosed purse: $600,000
$4,374,326 vs. Chris Weidman 2 — Disclosed purse: $600,000
$3,429,082 vs. Nick Diaz — Disclosed purse: $800,000 (600K/200K)
$3,250,000 vs. Michael Bisping
$4,208,675 vs. Daniel Cormier — Disclosed purse: $600,000
Michael Bisping
$375,000 or $400,000 vs. Jorge Rivera
$425,000 vs. Jason Miller — Disclosed purse: $425,000 (275K/150K)
$300,000 vs. Chael Sonnen
$425,000 vs. Brian Stann
$300,000 vs. Vitor Belfort
$450,000 vs. Alan Belcher
$300,000 vs. Tim Kennedy
$500,000 vs. Cung Le
$375,000 vs. Luke Rockhold
$425,000 vs. C.B. Dolloway
$450,000 or $475,000 vs. Thales Leites
$475,000 vs. Anderson Silva
$620,000 vs. Luke Rockhold — Disclosed purse: $300,000 (250K + 50K bonus)
$750,000 vs. Dan Henderson
Luke Rockhold
$155,000 or $250,000 vs. Costas Philippou — Disclosed purse: $130,000 (40k/40k+50k bonus)
$225,000 vs. Lyoto Machida
$630,000 or $1,000,000 vs. Chris Weidman — Disclosed purse: $210,000 (80K/80K+50k bonus)
$320,000 vs. Michael Bisping — Disclosed purse: $250,000
Chris Weidman
$1,967,908 vs. Anderson Silva 2 — Disclosed purse: $500,000 (300K/200K)
$793,688 vs. Lyoto Machida — Disclosed purse: $500,000 (225K/225K+50K bonus)
$707,301 vs. Vitor Belfort — Disclosed purse: $500,000 (250K/250K)
$2,073,083 vs. Luke Rockhold — Disclosed purse: $325,000 (275K+50K bonus)
Notes:
Rockhold bout was part of the McGregor vs. Aldo card.
Welterweight
Georges St-Pierre
$4,314,289 vs. Jake Shields
$3,197,908 vs. Carlos Condit
$4,116,690 vs. Nick Diaz
$3,555,344 vs. Johny Hendricks — Disclosed purse: $450,000 (400K+50K bonus)
Carlos Condit
$125,000 or $160,000 vs. Georges St-Pierre
$500,000 vs. Robbie Lawler — Disclosed purse: $400,000 (350K+50K bonus)
Johny Hendricks
$1,100,000 vs. Georges St-Pierre — Disclosed purse: $100,000 (50K+50K bonus)
$900,000 vs. Robbie Lawler
$430,000 vs. Robbie Lawler 2 — Disclosed purse: $150,000
Matt Hughes
$1,833,000 vs. Josh Koscheck
Notes:
Koscheck bout was part of the Jones vs. Rampage event.
Robbie Lawler
$181,000 vs. Rory MacDonald — Disclosed purse: $166,000 (83K/83K)
$638,000 vs. Johny Hendricks
$225,000 or $275,000 vs. Jake Ellenberger — Disclosed purse: $200,000 (100K/100K)
$285,000 or $530,000 vs. Matt Brown — Disclosed purse: $260,000 (105k/105K+50K bonus)
$720,000 vs. Johny Hendricks 2 — Disclosed purse: $220,000 (110K/110K)
$1,015,998 or $1,050,000 vs. Rory MacDonald 2 — Disclosed purse: $550,000 (500K+50K bonus)
$750,000 or $825,000 vs. Tyron Woodley — Disclosed purse: $500,000
Notes:
Rory Macdonald rematch was part of the McGregor vs. Mendes card.
Tyron Woodley
$390,000 vs. Robbie Lawler — Disclosed purse: $270K/70K + 50K bonus = 390K
$2,476,484 vs. Stephen Thompson
Notes:
For the Thompson fight, Woodley got a PPV cut from an event headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez.
Lightweight
Conor McGregor
$200,000 vs. Dustin Poirier 1 — Disclosed purse: $200,000 (75K/75K+50K bonus)
$245,000 vs. Dennis Siver — Disclosed purse: $220,000 (85K/85K+50K bonus)
$3,285,000 (includes $2.11M discretionary bonus) vs. Chad Mendes — Disclosed purse: $550,000 (500K+50K bonus)
$4,476,662 or $4,536,932 vs. Jose Aldo — Disclosed purse: $550,000 (500K+50K bonus)
$5,576,315 vs. Nate Diaz 1 — Disclosed purse: $1,050,000 (1M+50K bonus), PPV event generated $61 million.
$5,615,490 vs. Nate Diaz 2 — Disclosed purse: $3,050,000 (3M+50K bonus)
$6,812,374 vs. Eddie Alvarez — The PPV event generated $66 million.
Notes:
Lawsuit documents also included Professor Robert Topel’s expert report that cites UFC payouts from McGregor during the class period: “Conor McGregor was compensated nearly $20 million for participation in nine UFC bouts of which he won eight.”
This would have covered his first nine bouts in the UFC, from his bout with Marcus Brimage through the second Nate Diaz fight.
It’s worth noting that McGregor is the UFC’s biggest ever draw, and has generated hundreds and hundreds of millions for the UFC during that same time span. The five pay-per-views he headlined during the period combined for over $54 million at the gate alone. (For which apparently earned around $25 million.)
As a side note, much like the older financial figures from lawsuit documents already revealed in the past, these official UFC payouts again pale in comparison to the inaccurate and significantly inflated numbers Forbes kept publishing about McGregor through the years. Forbes claimed that McGregor supposedly took home $27 million from UFC for his bouts against Diaz and Alvarez, and $18 million for Mendes, Aldo and Diaz 1. His payouts from UFC’s own filings show that he didn’t even get close to half of those claimed figures.
Eddie Alvarez
$253,000 vs. Donald Cerrone
$110,000 or $254,000 vs. Gilbert Melendez
$375,000 vs. Rafael dos Anjos — Disclosed purse: $200,000 (150K+50K bonus)
$2,326,484 vs. Conor McGregor
Rafael dos Anjos
$151,000 vs. Ben Henderson — Disclosed purse: $126,000 (38K/38K+50K bonus)
$106,000 vs. Nate Diaz — Disclosed purse: $86,000 (45K/41K)
$167,000 or $250,000 vs. Anthony Pettis
$350,000 or $375,000 vs. Donald Cerrone — Disclosed purse: $350,000 (300K+50K bonus)
Frankie Edgar
$349,456 vs. Gray Maynard 3
$290,000 vs. Charles Oliveira — Disclosed purse: $290,000 ($120K/120K+50K bonus)
$395,000 vs. Cub Swanson
$340,000 vs. Urijah Faber
$435,000 vs. Chad Mendes — Disclosed purse: $410,000 (180K/180K+50K bonus)
$193,000 vs. Jose Aldo 2 — Disclosed purse: $190,000
$384,000 vs. Jeremy Stephens
Notes:
Similar to Velasquez, there seems to be minor errors with Edgar’s last few UFC payouts matching the total but being off by one fight count.
BJ Penn
$400,000 vs. Jon Fitch
$475,000 vs. Nick Diaz — Disclosed purse: $225,000 (150K+75K bonus)
$250,000 vs. Rory MacDonald
$275,000 vs. Frankie Edgar 3 — Disclosed purse: $150,000
Anthony Pettis
$510,000 vs. Gilbert Melendez — Disclosed purse: $250,000 (100K/100K+50K)
$142,000 vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Featherweight
Jose Aldo
$177,000 vs. Mark Hominick
$428,092 vs. Frankie Edgar — Disclosed purse: $290,000 (120K/120K+50K bonus)
$254,000 or $260,000 vs. Chan Sung Jung
$350,000 vs. Chad Mendes 2
$2,377,699 vs. Conor McGregor — Disclosed purse: $400,000
$504,000 or $775,000 vs. Frankie Edgar 2 — Disclosed purse: $500,000 (400K/100K)
Bantamweight
Renan Barao
$165,000 vs. Michael McDonald
$386,000 vs. Urijah Faber
Dominick Cruz
$125,000 or $250,000 vs. Urijah Faber 1 — Disclosed purse: $115,000 (20/20+75K bonus)
$160,000 vs. TJ Dillashaw — Disclosed purse: $160,000 (55K/55K+50K bonus)
$410,000 or $570,000 vs. Urijah Faber 3 — Disclosed purse: $350,000
$1,987,354 vs. Cody Garbrandt — Disclosed purse: $400,000 (350K+50K bonus)
Notes:
Garbrandt fight was part of the Rousey vs. Nunes card.
TJ Dillashaw
$250,000 vs. Joe Soto — Disclosed purse: $150,000 (50K/50K+50K bonus)
$204,000 or $224,000 vs. John Lineker — Disclosed purse: $200,000 (100K/100K)
Flyweight
Demetrious Johnson
$273,000 vs. Chris Cariaso — Disclosed purse: $183,000 (129K/56K)
$262,000 vs. Kyoji Horiguchi — Disclosed purse: $237,000 (131K/56K+50K bonus)
$245,000 vs. Henry Cejudo — Disclosed purse: $245,000 (135K/60K+50K bonus)
$350,000 vs. Tim Elliott — Disclosed purse: $350,000
Notes:
Longtime flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson clashed with the UFC over not having a cut of the PPV in the past. For his eighth straight title defense against Henry Cejudo, he was on a contract that paid $135,000 to show and $60,000 to win, and only got to $245,000 after a $50,000 performance of the night bonus. For his ninth title defense against Elliott, he got a flat fee of $350,000 with no win bonus or PPV points.
UFC payouts for PPV draws and non-champs
It’s typically UFC champions that get a cut of the PPV, but these four PPV draws all got very different deals and paths to those big events. CM Punk obviously had a unique deal being a WWE superstar, Nick Diaz came in as a Strikeforce champion, Nate Diaz had to enter TUF and grind for years before getting PPV points very late in his career, Chael Sonnen only got a flat fee.
CM Punk
$1,042,736 vs. Mickey Gall — Disclosed purse: $500,000
Nate Diaz
$125,000 or $180,000 vs. Gray Maynard — Disclosed Purse: $80,000 (15K/15K+50K bonus)
$56,000 vs. Rafael dos Anjos — Disclosed Purse: $16,000
$2,838,158 vs. Conor McGregor 1 – Disclosed Purse: $550,000 (500k+50K bonus)
$4,315,490 vs. Conor McGregor 2 — Disclosed Purse: $2,050,000 (2M+50K bonus)
Notes:
The biggest purses are much easier to determine on the sheet, but we only have these few figures for Nate Diaz, because he sadly didn’t really get paid much before that. Very few people go past 20 UFC fights, but for his 21st bout, Diaz was still on a publicly reported $20,000/$20,000 contract.
Sources told Bloody Elbow that Diaz also had a LOA, or Letter of Agreement, that paid an additional $40,000 that was not disclosed to the athletic commission or public.
Nick Diaz
$275,000 vs. BJ Penn — Disclosed Purse: $275,000 (200K+75K bonus)
$500,000 vs. Carlos Condit — Disclosed Purse: $200,000
$1,244,460 vs. Georges St-Pierre
$956,184 vs. Anderson Silva — Disclosed Purse: $500,000
Chael Sonnen
$1,050,000 vs. Anderson Silva 2 — Disclosed Purse: $50,000
$1,050,000 vs. Jon Jones
$400,000 vs. Shogun Rua — Disclosed Purse: $150,000 (100K + 50K bonus)
Notes:
Sonnen supposedly received a $1 million discretionary bonus for both of his big PPV fights in this class period against Silva and Jones.
Sonnen has been trying hard to defend UFC pay, and his recent efforts included making dubious claims and inflating the non-disclosed bonuses that he got from the promotion. He claimed to have earned $8,800,000 in the rematch against Anderson Silva, when in reality, lawsuit documents showed that Silva got just $2.5 million while Sonnen got $1.05 million — over eight times less than his claim.
Some Strikeforce and PRIDE stars got (relatively) bigger UFC payouts
It obviously doesn’t apply to everyone who switched, but the biggest stars and champions from the buyout of Strikeforce/PRIDE came into the UFC with relatively bigger purses compared to their other peers.
Dan Henderson
$1,133,329 vs. Vitor Belfort 2
$850,000 vs. Hector Lombard — Disclosed Purse: $850,000 (600K/200K+50K bonus)
$825,000 vs. Michael Bisping
Mark Hunt
$210,000 vs. Junior dos Santos — Disclosed Purse: $210,000 (160K + 50K bonus)
$500,000 vs. Fabricio Werdum
$700,000 vs. Brock Lesnar — Disclosed Purse: $700,000
Tim Kennedy
$140,000 vs. Rafael Natal
$138,000 vs. Michael Bisping
Cung Le
$420,000 vs. Wanderlei Silva — Disclosed Purse: $420,000 (350K+70K bonus)
$370,000 or $450,000 vs. Patrick Cote — Disclosed Purse: $150,000
$220,000 or $590,000 vs. Rich Franklin
Gegard Mousasi
$200,000 vs. Jacare Souza
$200,000 vs. Costas Philippou
Gilbert Melendez
$260,000 vs. Diego Sanchez
$300,000 vs. Anthony Pettis — Disclosed Purse: $200,000
Alistair Overeem
$816,983 vs. Brock Lesnar — Disclosed Purse: $380,000 (190K/190K)
$619,047 vs. Antonio Silva — Disclosed Purse: $285,714
$619,048 vs. Travis Browne — Disclosed Purse: $285,000
$310,143 vs. Ben Rothwell
$471,428 vs. Stefan Struve — Disclosed Purse: $150,000 (100K/50K)
$390,000 or $464,286 vs. Roy Nelson
$542,857 vs. Junior dos Santos — Disclosed Purse: $542,857 (342,857/200K)
$504,000 or $775,000 vs. Andrei Arlovski
$1,092,736 vs. Stipe Miocic — Disclosed Purse: $800K
Wanderlei Silva
$765,000 or $1,070,000 vs. Rich Franklin
$800,000 vs. Brian Stann (Includes 50k Fight of the Night and 50k Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jacare Souza
$250,000 vs. Gegard Mousasi
$191,000 vs. Chris Camozzi
Josh Thomson
$145,000 or $200,000 vs. Nate Diaz — Disclosed Purse: $145,000 (85K/10K+50K bonus)
UFC payouts for a few title challengers got varying increases
A few fighters made it onto this list because of the one-time pay bumps they got from challenging for the UFC title. Most that lost their title shot seemingly got a sharp drop back down in pay on the next fight.
Chris Cariaso
$74,000 vs. Demetrious Johnson
Notes:
Disclosed purse before title fight was $21,000/$21,000. No disclosed purses for after the title fight.
Alexis Davis
$274,000 vs. Ronda Rousey
Notes:
Davis’ disclosed purse before the title fight was $15,000/$15,000. Next disclosed purse was two fights after (with one win that bumped it up a little), and was $27,000.
Alexander Gustafsson
$500,000 vs. Jon Jones
Notes:
Gustafsson’s disclosed purse before the title fight was $30,000/$30,000. No disclosed purses for after the title fight.
Kyoji Horiguchi
$48,000 vs. Demetrious Johnson
Notes:
Horiguchi’s previous disclosed purse was already $20,000/$20,000 so he didn’t really get much of a bump up in pay for his title bout compared to the others listed here.
Chad Mendes
$198,000 vs. Jose Aldo
$700,000 vs. Conor McGregor — Disclosed Purse: $500,000
Notes:
Mendes’ disclosed purse was $45,000/$45,000 before the Aldo title fight. He dropped back to the exact contract with $48,000/$48,000 after the Aldo loss. He got another bump for the McGregor interim title fight, then dropped to $82,000 on the fight after.
Jake Shields
$580,000 vs. Georges St-Pierre
Notes:
Shields disclosed purse before the title fight was $75,000/$75,000. No disclosed purses for after the title fight.
Joe Soto
$120,000 vs. T.J. Dillashaw — Disclosed Purse: $20,000
Notes:
Soto went back to the same $20,000 disclosed purse on his next fight.
Cat Zingano
$300,000 vs. Ronda Rousey
Notes:
We couldn’t determine her other actual payouts, but Zingano’s disclosed purse before the title fight was $9000/$9000. Next fight after title loss, disclosed purse was $35,000.
UFC payouts for their 13 most tenured veterans
While some got better UFC payouts from other promotions or title fights, here are a few of the homegrown and tenured vets from the promotion. While each of these fighters had around 20 or more fights in the promotion, most of their bouts (especially if they didn’t get a performance bonus to bump up the total) were tough to distinguish from the other UFC payouts.
Matt Brown
$110,000 vs. Jordan Mein — Disclosed Purse: $110,000 (30K/30K+50K bonus)
$116,000 vs. Mike Pyle — Disclosed Purse: $116,000 (33K/33K+50K bonus)
$162,000 vs. Robbie Lawler — Disclosed Purse: $96,000 (46K+50K bonus)
$56,000 vs. Johny Hendricks
Donald Cerrone
$111,000 vs. Paul Kelly — Disclosed Purse: $110,000 (18K/18K+75K bonus)
$109,000 vs. Charles Oliveira — Disclosed Purse: $109,000 (22K/22K+65K bonus)
$129,000 or $146,000 vs. Dennis Siver — Disclosed Purse: $129,000 (27K/27K+75k bonus)
$194,000 vs. Melvin Guillard
$111,000 or $144,000 vs. Rafael dos Anjos
$195,000 vs. Jim Miller
$156,000 or $160,000 vs. Ben Henderson — Disclosed Purse: $146,000 (73K/73K)
$167,000 or $250,000 vs. John Makdessi — Disclosed Purse: $152,000 (76K/76K)
$214,000 vs. Patrick Cote
$220,000 vs. Rick Story — Disclosed Purse: $220,000 (85K/85K+50K bonus)
$175,000 or $310,000 vs. Matt Brown
Yves Edwards
$97,000 vs. Jeremy Stephens — Disclosed Purse: $97,000 (16K/16K+65K bonus)
$24,000 vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg — Disclosed Purse: $21,000
$24,000 vs. Daron Cruickshank — Disclosed Purse: $21,000
$24,000 vs. Yancy Medeiros
$27,000 vs. Piotr Hallmann
$27,000 vs. Akbarh Arreola
Gabriel Gonzaga
$38,000 vs. Stipe Miocic
$41,000 vs. Matt Mitrione — Disclosed Purse: $38,000
$103,000 vs. Mirko Cro Cop
$76,000 or $87,000 vs. Konstantin Erokhin — Disclosed Purse: $76,000 (38K/38K)
Clay Guida
$138,000 vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
$50,000 or $55,000 vs. Dennis Bermudez — Disclosed Purse: $50,000
$105,000 vs. Robbie Peralta — Disclosed Purse: $100,000 (50K/50K)
$58,000 vs. Thiago Tavares
Joe Lauzon
$148,000 vs. Jamie Varner — Disclosed Purse: $148,000 (24K/24K+100K double bonus)
$116,000 vs. Michael Chiesa
$158,000 vs. Diego Sanchez — Disclosed Purse: $158,000 (54K/54K+50K bonus)
$108,000 or $162,000 vs. Jim Miller
Chris Leben
$110,000 vs. Wanderlei Silva — Disclosed Purse: $92,000 (46K/46K)
$69,000 vs. Mark Munoz
$51,000 vs. Derek Brunson — Disclosed Purse: $51,000
$55,000 vs. Andrew Craig — Disclosed Purse: $51,000
$54,000 vs. Uriah Hall — Disclosed Purse: $51,000
Chris Lytle
$110,000 vs. Brian Ebersole
$200,000 vs. Dan Hardy — Disclosed Purse: $70,000 (35K/35K)
Demian Maia
$130,000 vs. Jon Fitch — Disclosed Purse: $120,000 (60K/60K)
$161,000 vs. Gunnar Nelson — Disclosed Purse: $156,000 (78K/78K)
$275,000 vs. Carlos Condit
Cole Miller
$106,000 vs. Sam Sicilia — Disclosed Purse: $106,000 (28K/28K+50K bonus)
$36,000 vs. Alex Caceres — Disclosed Purse: $33,000
$36,000 vs. Mizuto Hirota — Disclosed Purse: $33,000
Jim Miller
$147,000 vs. Joe Lauzon — Disclosed Purse: $123,000 (41k/41k+65K bonus)
$106,000 vs. Michael Chiesa — Disclosed Purse: $106,000 (56K+50K bonus)
$174,000 vs. Joe Lauzon 2
$140,000 vs. Thiago Alves
Diego Sanchez
$270,000 vs. Martin Kampmann
$120,000 vs. Takanori Gomi
$125,000 or $180,000 vs. Gilbert Melendez
$73,000 vs. Myles Jury
$150,000 vs. Ross Pearson — Disclosed Purse: $140,000 ($70K/70K)
$76,000 vs. Ricardo Lamas
$83,000 vs. Joe Lauzon — Disclosed Purse: $80,000
$164,000 vs. Marcin Held
Jeremy Stephens
$115,000 or $138,000 vs. Cub Swanson
$50,000 or $55,000 vs. Charles Oliveira — Disclosed Purse: $45,400 (40K+5400 for Oliveira’s weight miss)
$76,000 or $87,000 vs. Dennis Bermudez — Disclosed Purse: $72,000 (40K/40K-8K for weight miss)
$48,000 vs. Max Holloway — Disclosed Purse: $43,000
$57,000 vs. Frankie Edgar
UFC payouts for 11 more stars and non-champions
Joseph Benavidez
$144,000 vs. Henry Cejudo — Disclosed Purse: $140,000 (70K/70K)
Urijah Faber
$155,000 or $164,000 vs. Bryan Bowles — Disclosed Purse: $134,000 (32/32+70K bonus)
$130,000 vs. Frankie Edgar
$300,000 or $575,000 vs. Frankie Saenz — Disclosed Purse: $300,000 (150K/150K)
$230,000 vs. Dominick Cruz — Disclosed Purse: $160,000
$160,000 or $163,000 vs. Jimmie Rivera — Disclosed Purse: $160,000
Notes:
Unlike Strikeforce and PRIDE fighters, most fighters that came from the WEC, which was owned by Zuffa for years, entered the UFC with much lower pay. Dustin Poirier for example, came in at 4K/4K. That being said, Faber was one of the few exceptions.
Jon Fitch
$190,000 vs. Erick Silva
$69,000 vs. Demian Maia — Disclosed Purse: $60,000
Anthony Johnson
$280,000 vs. Jimi Manuwa — Disclosed Purse: $280,000 (115K/115K+50K bonus)
$320,000 vs. Glover Teixeira
Rory MacDonald
$187,000 vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Gray Maynard
$212,000 vs. Frankie Edgar 2 — Disclosed Purse: $102,000 (26/26+60k bonus)
Mark Munoz
$94,000 vs. Luke Barnatt
Sage Northcutt
$100,000 or $104,000 vs. Enrique Marin — Disclosed Purse: $100,000 (50K/50K)
Ovince Saint Preux
$180,000 vs. Shogun Rua
Antonio Silva
$100,000 vs. Cain Velasquez — Disclosed Purse: $75,000
Cub Swanson
$69,000 vs. Frankie Edgar
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