MMA Junkie reports the release of main event fighter salaries for tonight’s UFC 146. JDS and Frank Mir will earn $200,000 each with no win bonus.
Also revealed by NSAC head Keith Kizer, Cain Velasquez will earn $100,000 with the potential of a $100,000 win bonus and Bigfoot Silva will earn a flat $70,000.
Payout Perspective:
For JDS, he may will earn less (based on straight salary earnings) than he did at UFC on Fox 1 as his salary was $110K plus $110K for the win ($220K total). However, I’m sure he is fine with the bump to a $200K base. Velasquez earns the same from his fight with JDS. The rest of the salaries will be released after UFC 146. Based on the top of the card, this may be one of the bigger payrolls for a UFC card to date this year.
Didn’t Dana White say that major sports players all want to be part of the UFC now with the amount of money they’re making?
Doubt it with these types of numbers being officially reported.
It doesnt matter what is “officially reported”. These “Major Sports players” you are talking about can and will find out the real salaries ball park that we are very aware of. We know Brock and GSP made many millions per fight. We know Overeem made about 1 million for his Brock fight. If this event does over 500K buys then Mir and Santos will make about 1 million for this fight. After all these “official salaries” were much smaller a few years ago yet Brock still found his way to the sport and got paid very well. Second, These are salaries reported to the commission. Boxing doesnt release their full salaries either. We never get to see NSAc release full salaries of entire cards and when we do it doesnt include the main event. Even when a number is reported as being gaurenteed like FMR getting 32 mill. There is still a chance it goes up after PPV buys come in. So basically the commission numbers are meaningless and always has been.
Who cares about money anyway. Fighters fight for respect and fame and respect. Anyoe who tries to get in the UFC wants the respect that comes from being a pro fight or champion. You look at the lifestyle the top fighters have and thats what people want. A nice living, famous, feared, loved, and respected. With all the money Paman and FMJ make each fight very few people are getting into boxing. Those guys get more for less work than any athletes in sports yet it doenst attract anyone to go into boxing. The UFC is the sexy new sport and has the popularity and that is what athletes in many sports are trying to attach themselves too. Pay has nothing to do with it.
“Who cares about money anyway. Fighters fight for respect and fame and respect.”
That’s just plain wrong. Professional fighters get into the ring/octagon for money. How they fight once inside it has a lot to do with pride and respect, but you don’t get them into the arena without putting some money on the table. Young fighters may be willing to accept low pay, but only because they hope to rise in the ranks and eventually make big money.
I don’t know anyone who would rather be famous than rich. Or who want the fame without the fortune. It’s absurd.
These guys have families to take care of, and very short windows of opportunity to earn money so of course they are looking for the biggest payouts possible. That’s why you see so many guys sit out and wait for a title shot (or a shot at GSP, or Pacman or Mayweather or whoever the big PPV guy might be). That’s also why you see performance bonuses in the UFC. If all these guys cared about was fame and pride, Dana would be giving out medals and merit badges for knockouts and FOTN instead of checks.
It always matters what is officially reported.
It keeps the UFC off the top paid athletes list which everyone looks at and compares.
Sampson
Whos list? ESPN? lol the list was a joke was they could have put UFC fighters if they wanted. They just used it for an excuse. Hell they put a Horse Jockey’s winning as his salary because they didnt know what his pay was. A jockey doesnt get the prize money. But they listed him but could list the highest paid MMA fighter or even try? Right.
Diego
People fight all the time for nothing or almost nothing. Some people make their decision to fight about money but i dont believe most do. People started flocking to MMA when it became the “Thing to do”. Everyone is talking about it and fighters want that attention. At the core of fighting it is about respect. It is why people fight on the streets, to the schools as kids, to the cage. Of course most will try to make as much as possible but it is still about respect. Most people just want money to use it to impress people. Get the ladies make friends get more respect.
There was no money back in the day in MMA and yet there was no shortage of guys step up to fight. Why is that? Why did Tito fight his first fight in the UFC for free? What was his purpose to fight that night when he knew he couldnt be paid?
Once a fighter starts fighting for money without anything to prove i dont want to see them. They are at the end of their career when that happens. Tito used to fight with something to prove and when he was on top pre Chuck Liddel fight he was confident and a force. Right before the Chuck fight when he started avoiding that fight he lost his dsire to fight and was just looking for paydays. He was never the same.
Many more lists than ESPN… Forbes, CNN, MSN, they all have lists of athletes earnings.
UFC is never on them. Out of sight, out of mind
Why does it matter if they are on a list. The top guys are making millions and I guarantee you that they aren’t losing sleep because they aren’t on a list.
Holy christ people, do we STILL really need to tell you that the headliners make more then the disclosed salaries???
Once again, Brain Smasher is incorrect in regards to boxing figures. In fact, boxing promoters are REQUIRED to disclose ALL compensation–there are no hidden payment shenanigans in boxing.
In MMA, these so-called “secret” bonuses and “side payments” are not near what you are led to believe.
To put the point another way, the Mayweather-Cotto fight, those two boxers earned more than half of what the UFC will pay for an entire year in fighter compensation. . .
Yet, the UFC consistently has 10-12 of the top 15 PPV events each year. The pay is quite simply not comparable–and that is one of the reasons it is not disclosed.
How do you know what half of the UFC’s annual salaries is? In 2007, Randy Couture make ~$3million in fight purses. Do you really think that there aren’t guys making a lot more than that now? Overeem just got a $1million signing bonus and a slice of PPV money. While I agree that “locker room bonuses” could be overstated, they could be understated. The fact of the matter is, that the fighters are just as happy about secret bonuses and salaries as management is. If Jon Jones really wanted you to know how much money he was making, he would tell someone. Dana White will not cut Jon Jones for bragging about making millions of dollars.
It’s hard to look at PacMan and Mayweather’s salaries as anything remotely typical because of how much higher their salaries are than everyone else in the sport. Not saying the UFC is paying anything close, but no other boxer makes that kind of money either.
“How do you know what half of the UFC’s annual salaries is? In 2007, Randy Couture make ~$3million in fight purses. Do you really think that there aren’t guys making a lot more than that now?”
What are we in? 5th grade?
2007 what was the average PPV revenue per event?
2012… what is the average PPV revenue per event?
That’s what I thought.
I doubt its that simple. Also, there’s $100million/yr in Tv revenue in the pot with the fox deal. I don’t know what they make, but neither do you or probably anyone except the fighters, their managers, and the UFC.
Rob Meysay,
Do i really need to post 100 articles where a boxers pay is mentioned as a garentee amount with the words “could be more” every single time? FMJ and others get PPV cuts too IF it reaches a predetermained number of buys. So dont tell me i am wrong and ALL boxing pay is reported to the commission before the fight. Maybe they go back after they get the numbers and report the rest but i doubt it.l Because like in MMA the commission doesnt require it.
Simpson,
Thats some great logic there. So since the UFC sold more PPVs per event in 2007 they couldnt possibley pay more money now could they? Yet fighter payroll is MUCH higher today than 2007. Also there are dozens of guys making a PPV cut rather than maybe 5 like 2007. Again you have no clue what guys are making. Another little tidbit for you is Brock in his last fights made more than 2007 Couture and so does GSP whch shoots your theory all to hell.