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It’s become customary for MMA news sites to report fighter payouts after major events. Unfortunately, only a handful of US state athletic commissions publish the salary info. For international events, or in US states which do not report fighter payouts, the salary info is not available. This doesn’t stop folks from still reporting fighter payouts – except since they lack the actual info for the event, they report the last known payout for each fighter.
This can be fairly accurate in some cases, and extremely outdated in others. While the websites that publish this info typically include a disclaimer stating that the payouts are estimated (see http://mma-manifesto.com/root/ufc-fighter-salary-database-root/tuf-nations-finale-bisping-vs-kennedy-fighter-purses-attendance-gate.html), what they do not mention is how recent the last reported salary info is for each fighter.
This of course is an important factor – a UFC fighter whose last payout was officially reported two years and several fights ago is not likely to be still on the same salary. For example, MMA-Manifesto is reporting a payout of $8,000 for Kyle Noke. This is based on his last reported payout at TUF 11 Finale – almost 4 years ago! The base salary of 8K to show, 8K to win has been the standard for entry level TUF contestants in their first UFC fight; however Noke has amassed a record of 4-2 in the Octagon prior to fighting Cote. UFC contracts are typically structured so that fighter pay goes up with wins, and Noke almost certainly received a new – and more lucrative – contract when he was picked to be a coach on TUF Nations. So it’s very likely that his actual purse for this fight was far above 8K.
For other fighters, it’s impossible to find any official payout info. Take Ryan Jimmo: with a 2-2 record in the UFC, all four of his previous fights took place in jurisdictions which do not report salary info. Again, it’s highly unlikely that he is still at the 8K base pay level, four fights and two wins into his contract.
Keeping this in mind, I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of payouts for the TUF Nations Finale card, while including the source of last officially reported payout for each fighter:
| Fighter | Base Pay | Win Bonus | ‘Of the Night’ Bonus | Last Reported Official Payout |
| Michael Bisping | $275,000 | UFC 159, April 27 2013 275K + 150K win bonus |
||
| Tim Kennedy | $60,000 | $30,000 | UFC 162, July 6 2013 | |
| Patrick Cote | $21,000 | $21,000 | UFC 148, July 7 2012 | |
| Kyle Noke | $8,000 | TUF 11 Finale, June 19 2010 | ||
| Elias Theodoru | $8,000 | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | |
| Sheldon Westcott | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| Chad Laprise | $8,000 | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | |
| Oliver Aubin-Mercier | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| Dustin Poirier | $23,000 | $23,000 | $50,000 fight of the night |
UFC 162, July 6 2013 |
| Akira Corassani | $8,000 | $50,000 fight of the night |
TUF 18 Finale, November 30 2013 | |
| KJ Noons | $41,000 | $41,000 | $50,000 performance of the night |
UFC 160, May 25 2013 |
| Sam Stout | $30,000 | UFC on Fox 9, December 14 2013 | ||
| Sarah Kaufman | $8,000 | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | |
| Leslie Smith | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| Ryan Jimmo | $8,000 | $8,000 | $50,000 performance of the night |
N/A, base pay of 8K assumed |
| Sean O’Connel | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| George Roop | $13,000 | $13,000 | UFC 160, May 25 2013 | |
| Dustin Kimura | $8,000 | UFC 156, February 2 2013 | ||
| Mike Bocek | $23,000 | $23,000 | UFC 145, April 21 2012 | |
| Mike de la Torre | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| Nordine Taleb | $8,000 | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | |
| Vik Grujic | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| Richard Walsh | $8,000 | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | |
| Chris Indich | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | ||
| Mitch Gagnon | $8,000 | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed | |
| Tim Gorman | $8,000 | N/A, base pay of 8K assumed |
Posted on April 18, 2014 by oleg
Sonnen likely had a PPV cut. Lower weight classes do get shafted.
Fighter salaries are definitely very interesting. it’s amazing how far apart sometimes the ranking and popularity of a fighter and their salary.
for example, Michael McDonald is a top ranked AND very exciting fighter. he made 17,000$ for his last fight against Urijah Faber who got 200,000$ just to show (not including his win money) (http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/440332/UFC-on-FOX-9-purses-12K-200K/)
Chael Sonnen is one of the biggest draws, yet he got only 50,000$ when he was fighting his biggest fights (against Anderson Silva).