The California State Athletic Commission released the payroll for UFC 139. Notably, Cung Le topped the list of fighter payouts with $350,000.
Le also received a $70,000 bonus for being co-fight of the night.
The fighter list via MMA Junkie:
Dan Henderson: $250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Mauricio Rua: $165,000
Wanderlei Silva: $200,000 (no win bonus)
def. Cung Le: $350,000
Urijah Faber: $64,000 (includes $32,000 win bonus)
def. Brian Bowles: $19,000
Martin Kampmann: $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus)
def. Rick Story: $19,000
Stephan Bonnar: $68,000 (includes $34,000 win bonus)
def. Kyle Kingsbury: $10,000
Ryan Bader: $48,000 (includes $24,00 win bonus)
def. Jason Brilz: $13,000
Michael McDonald: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Alex Soto: $6,000
Chris Weidman: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Tom Lawlor: $12,000
Gleison Tibau: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus)
def. Rafael Dos Anjos: $16,000
Miguel Torres: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Nick Pace: $4,000
Seth Baczynski: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Matt Brown: $12,000
Danny Castillo: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus)
def. Shamar Bailey: $8,000
Payout Perspective:
Most people would have believed that Dan Henderson would have been the top draw here. Le’s salary is surprising considering he hasn’t fought in over a year and his last fight in Strikeforce it was reported he made $100,000. Le was a hometown draw, somewhat of a movie star and a marketable fighter but the salary seems quite high. Le signed a 6 fight deal with the UFC but with movies on the horizon, its unlikely the 39 year old will finish the contract.
Thanks for sharing the details on Cung Le, your payout perspective was interesting. Congrats to Cung Le and his team for negotiating a great deal. His fight was fun to watch so I’ll be sure to keep my eye out for him on future cards and other media.
I know these are just the base salaries as reported to the commission but I hope Hendo and Shogun made 7 figures each. That fight was brutal. The thought that they went through it for only a few hundred grand is depressing.
Diego,
There are those “locker room” bonuses. Also, not sure if Hendo or Rua’s contract would include a cut of the PPV.
Do we have an idea of the PPV numbers? I was surprised by how poorly Penn-Diaz did and I can’t imagine this doing more than that.
Wand getting 200k and Lee getting 350K + 70K ,why didn’t Wand get 70K added to his purse also. He was the draw for that fight maybe not in that town compared to Lee. But Wand has the largest following by far…..Overall these fight payouts are a joke…UFC is on a slippery slope paying such low purse numbers to guys who bust their ass to win and put on a great fight.
This must change and soon……..
I think this was Le last fight in the UFC.I that number an Le not being a draw,it’ll be hard to pay him that figure with PPV’S being down.Le just isnt a draw an buy losing his debut fight the way he did.The UFC cant pay him more then other fighters.