# The ten biggest payouts in UFC history



## Budhisten (Apr 11, 2010)

> As the sport of mixed martial arts continues to cultivate a larger audience, the more organizations like the UFC will be able to adequately pay their top-shelf talent the money they deserve.
> 
> While MMA as a whole is a long ways away from paying athletes Floyd Mayweather-esque money, it's come a long way and, finally fighters can enjoy a more-than-comfortable lifestyle.
> 
> ...


*Source: BleacherReport.com*

I know some fighters get paid extra behind the scenes, get PPV cuts and so on - still a funny list though 

And it's awesome Chuck is still number one


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## Killz (Oct 5, 2009)

*queu people complaining about how much Bisping gets paid*


Good thread though


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## Budhisten (Apr 11, 2010)

Killstarz said:


> *queu people complaining about how much Bisping gets paid*
> 
> 
> Good thread though


Yeah I wondered about Bisping's huge payout as well, but then I realized it was on the TUF finale and not a PPV... Hence he couldn't get a PPV cut and probably got a bigger paycheck because of it


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## Spec0688 (Sep 9, 2007)

List is pointless, like you said. I didn't even go through all of the top 10.


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## Homeboy (Jan 14, 2011)

James Toney at UFC 118 against Randy Couture took home 500k aswell...


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## LL (Mar 12, 2011)

Wonder how many of them are making "Anderson Silva Money"


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## Voiceless (Nov 8, 2010)

Is Cung Le such a draw that he makes it into that top10 List¿ Are his films that popular¿ I haven't seen any of them. Even without the FOTN Bonus he got what, $275.000 to show up for the fight¿ I mean, he wasn't the Strikeforce champ at that time, nor is he a (L)HW and still he's just one place behind Strikeforce, Dream & K1 HW champ Overeem and not that far away in payout from people that have served the company for a long time.

I mean, it's good for him and he can be lucky, I'm just wondering.


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## SmackyBear (Feb 14, 2008)

Voiceless said:


> Is Cung Le such a draw that he makes it into that top10 List¿ Are his films that popular¿ I haven't seen any of them. Even without the FOTN Bonus he got what, $275.000 to show up for the fight¿ I mean, he wasn't the Strikeforce champ at that time, nor is he a (L)HW and still he's just one place behind Strikeforce, Dream & K1 HW champ Overeem and not that far away in payout from people that have served the company for a long time.
> 
> I mean, it's good for him and he can be lucky, I'm just wondering.


Nationally, no Cung Le isn't a huge draw. But he is a local draw and celebrity in San Jose. His paycheck was an acknowledgement that he'd create local media attention and sell tickets in the area.



I wish the article had mentioned GSP's recently saying he makes $4-5M a fight, or Overeem's PPV bonus for that fight that's spelled out for all to read.

Even in the comments, the author says, "i think it's implied that the figures are based on just their respective bouts and not any *discretionary bonuses*, whether it ppv buys or any other bonuses."

We know not all bonuses that are undisclosed to the media and athletic commissions are discretionary. Lawsuits involving Randy and Overeem prove that there are non disclosed contractual bonuses.


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## limba (Jul 21, 2009)

Cung Le...way too much IMO.


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## Leakler (Sep 23, 2010)

Pretty shocked people like Bisping, Cung Le etc have all made more than Anderson (probably not in total, but you know what i mean ).


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## DanTheJu (Mar 3, 2007)

The numbers listed above are irrelevant, they are just the purse, which for some fighters does not represent even half they money they will make for a fight!

Take Reem for example. If the Brock fight did 800k PPVs he will make 1.1m in PPV bonus and $333,333.33 signing bonus. That is a total of aprox $1.4m in just his bonus money. So in total he could make $1.8 million. The fight purse is only 28% of his income for that fight!

Now if you consider proven PPV draws like GSP and Brock who probably get a better cut of the PPV, their income sky rockets!


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## Leakler (Sep 23, 2010)

DanTheJu said:


> The numbers listed above are irrelevant, they are just the purse, which for some fighters does not represent even half they money they will make for a fight!
> 
> Take Reem for example. If the Brock fight did 800k PPVs he will make 1.1m in PPV bonus and $333,333.33 signing bonus. That is a total of aprox $1.4m in just his bonus money. So in total he could make $1.8 million. The fight purse is only 28% of his income for that fight!
> 
> Now if you consider proven PPV draws like GSP and Brock who probably get a better cut of the PPV, their income sky rockets!


True, then there is all the sponsors on top of that .


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## DanTheJu (Mar 3, 2007)

Leakler said:


> True, then there is all the sponsors on top of that .


But the sponsors are 3rd parties paying them, doest really count in this discussion. (in his last SF fight he only got $50k in sponsorship money, but I am sure that went up a bit for a UFC fight)

They also make money from merchandise. There are a ton of avenues that fighters are making bank now days! Good for them!


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## Glothin (Jun 8, 2010)

I hope people pay attention to this. Reem's lawsuit allowed some of his UFC contract and other compensation variables to become transparent for the first time in a long time (if ever). I think Randy C's bonus pay might have been made public before as well.

Bottom line is the fighters make more, and many a lot more than what the private organization is required to release to the gaming commission or other authority.

And BleacherReport continues publishing fine quality materials--right up there with my drunken War Hardy posts.


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## MMAnWEED (Aug 8, 2010)

This list isn't even accurate. I mean, the payouts are right but this isn't the top 10. James Toney made 500k after his fight and pretty much all of Lesnar's fights made him over 350k.


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## systemdnb (Dec 7, 2008)

MMAnWEED said:


> This list isn't even accurate. I mean, the payouts are right but this isn't the top 10. James Toney made 500k after his fight and pretty much all of Lesnar's fights made him over 350k.


I'm pretty sure I've seen Tito make 500k several times prior to the Bader fight?


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## pipe (Jun 15, 2008)

List is wrong. Rob 'the Saint' Emerson made well over $1,000,000 for his violent dismissal of Manny Gamburyan at UFC 87.


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## Rauno (Nov 20, 2009)

Didn't realise Tito's making so much.. I wish the list was all of MMA though, Arlovski took an astounding 1.5 million as his base pay for the Fedor fight.


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## Liddellianenko (Oct 8, 2006)

wow surprising seeing Rashad on there higher than GSP. I thought GSP was the biggest draw after Lesnar, and Rashad was a guy that gets a lot of mixed reactions and LnP accusations.


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## GoodfellaGr (Aug 16, 2011)

*Joke?*



pipe said:


> List is wrong. Rob 'the Saint' Emerson made well over $1,000,000 for his violent dismissal of Manny Gamburyan at UFC 87.


WHAT?!??!! is this a joke?


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## Hexabob69 (Nov 8, 2008)

It is not so bad knowing what they got paid but look at the FOTN and KOTN and SON for those PPVs and you will not see these guys geting them... That is the disturbing part.


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