The official fighter salary numbers from UFC 62: Liddell vs Sobral have been released. The total disclosed fighter payroll was $407,000 and the event had a live gate of $3,040,880. As usual, Zuffa, LLC has chosen not to reveal their Pay-Per-View revenue numbers. The payouts do not include any additional bonuses or non-disclosed money not required to be submitted to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The fighter payouts are as follows:
- Chuck Liddell: $250,000
- Forrest Griffin: $32,000
- Renato “Babalu” Sobral: $21,000
- Nick Diaz: $20,000
- Stephan Bonnar: $16,000
- Cheick Kongo: $12,000
- Hermes Franca: $12,000
- Yushin Okami: $8,000
- Josh Neer: $6,000
- Rob MacDonald: $5,000
- David Heath: $4,000
- Eric Schafer: $4,000
- Wilson Gouveia: $4,000
- Alan Belcher: $3,000
- Christian Wellisch: $3,000
- Jamie Varner: $3,000
- Wes Combs: $2,000
- Cory Walmsley: $2,000
Chuck Liddell’s amount is a flat $250,000 regardless of whether he won or loss. Also, on top of the $250k, Liddell also gets a percentage of the total PPV sales. The other fighters salaries are all the usual double bonus for a win. What is most disappointing to me is that Babalu only received $21,000 for a title fight; but then I stop and remember that Rich Franklin is still only fighting for $16,000 plus $16,000 if he wins on his contract. Also, Hermes Franca only made $12,000 including his win. A guy like Franca should be fighting for more than $6,000 base pay.
I know the UFC salaries always draw hot debate, so here are the numbers. Start discussing…
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Nothing to discuss really. The UFC is a business..they are here to make money…they made money…success…
Every fighter on the card made more in 15 minutes or less than I did all of last week…so cry me a river.
Well put. I too have come to the point that I think the UFC fighters make plenty. Its true, none of them leave for other promotions and they all want to be in the UFC when they aren’t.
I think there is quite a bit of “non-disclosed” payouts to the fighters, that Dana doesnt reveal because he is a shrewd/smart businessman.
To be honest, compared to just about any other professional athlete…save badmitton or yard bowling, these guys make squat. $21,000 for title fight?? You know how ling he had to train for that fight. I’m sure if you devide that hourly he made about as much as I do working techsupport, and I don’t have worry abotu life changing injury sitting at my desk. These guy’s carreers can end in one fight, they put they’re bodies on the line every fight (for our entertainment BTW)…and should be rewarded. When a proffesional football player who’s *** may leave the seat once a year makes a minimum of $260,000 a year, it boggles the mind. UFC pay for anythign but they title fights is just sad, and is deffinately one main reasons they can’t attract and keep world class talent.
Unfortunately, until the other promotions become competitive with the UFC, Dana White can afford to lowball these fighters. As Pride becomes more popular with the mainstream American audience, we’ll see fighters jumping ship and salaries will have to become competitive in order for promotions to keep good fighters. End result is better pay for fighters and better fighters in general. The fighters and audience win in the end.
I agree $21,000 for a title fight is pretty bad especially in comparison to what Chuck was getting paid. Babalu is a awesome fighter and he deserves more than that.