MMA Junkie reports salaries from this past Saturday’s Bellator 154. Phil Davis earned the most out of the fighters on the card.
According to Junkie, the payroll, obtained from the California State Athletic Commission
Phil Davis: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Muhammed Lawal: $30,000
Saad Awad: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Evangelista Santos: $17,000
Josh San Diego: $3,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
def. Jeremiah Labiano: $2,500
Adam Piccolotti: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Ray Wood: $6,000
Andre Fialho: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Rick Reger: $4,000
Mark Dickman: $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus)
def. Thomas Diagne: $3,000
Jamielene Nievara: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
def. Stephanie Frausto: $1,500
Joshua Hardwick: $5,000 (includes $2,500 win bonus)
def. Jorge Acosta: $2,500
Sam Spengler: $3,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
def. Doyle Childs: $1,000
Josh Paiva: $3,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
def. Steve Gruber: $1,000
Danasabe Mohammed: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
def. Martin Sano: $2,000
Anthony Taylor: $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
def. Victor Jones: $1,000
Payout Perspective:
Essentially, Davis and Lawal had the same show money ($30K) with Davis earning the win bonus. This is low compared to how much Davis earned in the UFC but perhaps he made the money back in sponsorships. There were 6 fighters that made $2,000 or less on the card.
Wow after taxes and training fees the local garbage man brings home more
Yeah, the same can be said for boxing undercard fighters, only difference is Bellator fighters will still have their job next year. Hahaha.
Boxing like Bellator, sometimes pay undercard guys more in tickets, so if it’s a local fighter he probably does $2000 or something by selling tickets to their family and friends but they have to sell all the tickets to make it worthwhile,
Horrible pay, thats worse than UFC….it absolutely amazes me that headliners on a televised card can make so little. It really doesnt pay to be an mma fighter unless you are at the very top….and even then, in only certain promotions/leagues. MMA needs to change, big time, there is just no incentive for individuals who are true world class athletes to go into the sport when you can go into another sport like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, boxing, tennis, etc etc etc and make millions.
@Wil
Boxing????
How many boxers make anything near what those other sports stars make?
How many boxers even make 1m per fight? Maybe 10-15? There are nearly as many in mma. The main difference between boxing and mma in terms of pay, is for one undercard mma fighters make more apples to apples and a boxer or two historically(although not right now) can make over 10m per fight.
Boxing pays absolute dirt to nearly every fighter except the top stars. There is such a drastic drop off after the star headliners and now, with ppv being in the gutter and right’s deals getting cut, we are going to see a lot less pay.
Phil Davis may have got a signing bonus, I have no idea if he did or how much because it seemed the UFC didn’t really want him but at the top end Overeem got a $1 million bonus spread over his first 3 UFC fights that weren’t part of his fight night purse.
That’s only public record because Golden Glory sued Overeem and it became public.
Cutch, no matter what, I had King Mo winning 3-2 in that one.