Sanchez and Stevenson Top Earners at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale
Diego Sanchez and Joe Stevenson, who both recorded victories on Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, topped the list of official salaries for the event, which were released today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Sanchez earned $90,000 for his main event win over Clay Guida ($23,000), while Stevenson received $70,000 by topping Nate Diaz ($20,000) in the first bout of the Spike-televised main card. The total disclosed payroll for the event (excluding fight night bonuses) was $430,000.
The event took place at The Pearl in Las Vegas and drew a sell-out attendance of 1,800 for a live gate of $500,000.
The official salaries for The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, as reported to the NSAC, were:
- Diego Sanchez ($90,000 – includes $45,000 win bonus)* def. Clay Guida ($23,000)*
- James Wilks ($16,000 – includes $8,000 win bonus) def. DaMarques Johnson ($8,000)
- Chris Lytle ($36,000 – includes $18,000 win bonus)* def. Kevin Burns ($9,000)*
- Ross Pearson ($16,000) def. Andre Winner ($8,000)
- Joe Stevenson ($70,000 – includes $35,000 win bonus)* def. Nate Diaz ($20,000)*
- Melvin Guillard ($24,000) – includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Gleison Tibau ($17,000)
- Brad Blackburn ($18,000 – includes $9,000 win bonus) def. Edgar Garcia ($5,000)
- Tomasz Drwal ($15,600 – includes $7,000 win bonus)*^ def. Mike Ciesnoleviscz ($6,400)^
- Nick Osipczak ($16,000 – includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Frank Lester ($8,000)
- Jason Dent ($16,000 – includes $8,000 win bonus)* def. Cameron Dollar ($8,000)
* Salaries do not include fight night bonuses.
^ The salaries of Drwal and Ciesnoleviscz have been adjusted for the 20% ($1,600) Ciesnoleviscz paid Drwal for failing to make weight.
[Pictured: Diego Sanchez]
Tags: Andre Winner, Brad Blackburn, Cameron Dollar, Chris Lytle, Clay Guida, DaMarques Johnson, Diego Sanchez, Edgar Garcia, Frank Lester, Gleison Tibau, James Wilks, Jason Dent, Joe Stevenson, Kevin Burns, Melvin Guillard, Mike Ciesnolevicz, Nate Diaz, Nick Osipczak, Ross Pearson, Tomasz Drwal
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Not a single fighter under 5k. Let the money trolls show up now…
…and it wasn’t a Pay-Per-View, either…
Wait a minute…1,800 people?? I thought the venue looked small, but is that a misprint? You’d think a Diego-Guida fight would draw more than 1,800 people. Hmm…
Unless the average ticket price was $277.78, it must be a typo.
If the average ticket price was $277.78, I’m in the wrong damn business.
Nope, those aren’t misprints. The attendance was officially announced as “just over 1,800″ and the gate was $500,000. The Pearl is not a large venue, which is why it’s used for events like The Ultimate Fighter finales and Fight Nights.
Regarding the high average ticket price, I believe the cheapest ticket for events at The Pearl are usually $100 and the top ones around $1000 compared to $50 (or lower) and $600 for pay-per-view events held in larger arenas.
All seats at the Pearl are fantastic; I hear they’re well worth the cost of admission.
every time i see a “fight night” the octagon looks a lot smaller then then a ufc event? but ev everyone i mention it to says i am wrong? i assume you will know?
The octagon is the same size everywhere, it could just be that in the smaller venues, it looks smaller.
I would still like to see all of the fighters making a bit more money, especially the guys at the mid or bottom of the card, however I thought this was a decent enough payday when you consider the event was a free-per-view.
Hopefully this event is indicative of a trend wherein the UFC pursestrings are loosening a bit, and the fighter-base will be seeing better paydays down the road.
….Seriously? Because the UFC already pays better than any other professional combat sport or organization (for all except the De la Hoyas of the world).
Sure it would be nice if they were paid more, but they don’t have a RIGHT to earn a living fighting and only fighting. If they’re good enough, great. Otherwise they can get themselves out to get a job like everyone else.
And now, obligatory links to MANY statements that disclosed pay is the icing on every fighter’s cake, because some people STILL don’t get it.
Please stop making me do this.
Thanks dbiz, I had to change computers and lost my bookmarks for that stuff, got them set up again.
I’m just curious as to if you’d feel the same way if you had to pay your training bills, feed your family, etc. by making a living as a pro fighter.
Also, thanks for the links. They are much appreciated, as is everyone’s feedback on the sport. It’s nice to hear some well thought out positions, instead of the drunken ramblings of the usual MMA club bar crowd…
Re: “I’m just curious as to if you’d feel the same way if you had to pay your training bills, feed your family, etc. by making a living as a pro fighter.”
No one HAS to make a living as a pro fighter. This is these guys’ CHOSEN profession, if they aren’t happy with what they are getting paid they need to find another way to make money. No one is guaranteed from anyone anywhere that they will be able to make enough money to live life doing what they want to do. I mean, lets be honest, most people’s “dream job” would be to not have a job and go do fun stuff all the time. That doesn’t pay the bills, so we all choose other professions that pay better, well most of us anyways. My first job at age 14 I made $6/hr as a seasonal employee for a recreation area, I didn’t mind the job, but the next summer I wanted to make more money, so I got a job doing something else that paid better.
Shane Carwin still CHOOSES to work as an engineer in addition to training and fighting, Brett Rogers CHOSE to quit his job at Sam’s Club and go full time as a fighter. All the other fighters in the UFC (or any other org) that are “full time” fighters CHOSE that path, no one forced it on them. Where they are in life is a direct result of the choices they have made (and likewise for pretty much anyone else for that matter). If they are not happy with the amount of income their choices garnered them, then they need to make different choices (again, likewise for pretty much anyone else in any other profession).
It’s good to see lytle up there with a decent payday because he always puts on a good fight and “earns” his paycheck. I’ve seen a lot of fighters under contract that are less impressive but get paid way more.
I couldn’t agree more about Lytle, and the pay scale for other less-accomplished fighters. He’s recently been a real bargain for the promotion, and I hope he continues delivering good fights for good paydays.
This way, everybody wins.
And to think, I used to say UFC underpaid their fighters. Well done Zuffa, well done.
fighter salaries look good, but seriously guida only gets 23k? and sanchez gets 45k? wow thats a big difference when guida puts everything he has into every fight.. still not a bad amount of money
I think the reason why Sanchez got more money is because he won the fight and is a somewhat bigger name than Guida, but that’s just what i think.
I agree that 23K is pretty lame for a performance like Guida’s, but as I keep being reminded, that doesn’t include bonus money. I also keep being reminded how these guys make so much money from sponsors, who are attracted by good performances, but IMO the UFC could jump up base payouts by 20% without bankrupting the promotion, especially for midcard guys.
It’s fine that their are sponsors out there willing to put money up so that a fighter will have their name on their shorts, hats, or other walk-out apparel, but as it currently stands a lot of fighters basically HAVE to wrangle sponsorships in order to pay bills, and I just don’t think thats right or fair. The UFC shouldn’t get to pay talent less because EAS or Muscle Milk or condomdepot.com or whoever is willing to throw money out there. Fighters should be getting that money as EXTRA income, not as necessary supplemental or even co-primary income.
I’m not a big fan of the “NASCAR-ization” of any sport, let alone a sport as near and dear to my heart as MMA.
Just one guy’s opinion of course…
There is also the issue of contracts. I’m hypotheticalling out of my tushie right now, but if Guida signed his contract two years ago and has two more fights left on it… Well when this one’s up, he’ll just have to negotiate a new one with more money in it.
Same goes for everyone under contract: win and make a name for yourself and your next contract will be bigger. Just like onther sports, the value of your contract (and by extension, sponsorships) is an agreed upon value by both parties that reflects the perceived monetary value for service (i.e. fighting) at the time of the signing of the contract for a specified period of time.
I don’t know when some guy’s contracts started or how long they last or how many fights or anything. I do know that the first contract a guy signs (unless they are a big name coming from another organization) is $8k/fight. That seems to be the standard. After that is kind of on the fighter. If they blow their weight class up, they will get a huge deal next time. If they bomb out, they won’t, if they get brought back at all. It’s just like in all other professional sports.
Nice to see the fighter’s getting more money, and well deserved too. I think that Sanchez and Guida should have gotten a little more for the fight they put up in the main event, but what are you gonna do?
They did, they got fight of the night bonus of 25k each.
Does guida $23,000 fight money include his fight of the night bonus?
no he mad 48000 with fight bonus is says, bonuses not included.and clay will always be good but never great because he does not finish any good fighters.
No. And Guida would have made $46,000 without the Fight of the Night bonys if he won.
like i said he made 48k total
sanchez made 90k plus 25k, so 115k total which is good because boxers make more even with less people watchin. i say bring in barnett and belfort and never bring back tim sylvia.i say bring nick diaz and jake shields in. they are the only quaility strikeforce people.i know there is cung le and rogers but if cung had to fight the big 185. like nate m. or sub guys like damien mia he would have alot of losses quick.rogers on the ground? nobody knows? overhem is a striker so so he wont get tested in his next fight. arloski is just like liddell and wanderlei just been hit one to many times and now has a huge button on the side of his head.
If anyone got burnt it was Burns… Hold on guys I’m only saying that cause Dollar and Lester only got 1K less and he {Burns} has been in a few wars in the octagon. Very nice to see them upping the pay to where it should be.
O… How did I forget The UFC is the one that got underpaid. Paying out $430k And only pulling in 500k? What’s wrong with them?
Yeah….how dare they not shell out every dime they take in? I mean, there were no non-fighters working there. The NSAC doesn’t get a cut of the event. There are no camera guys to pay. There is no security to pay for. THAT UNREASONABLE UFC!!!!
I think you may have misread that, dbiz.
If I did it is only because of the tone Mr. Turk usually takes with the UFC – They are greedy and are trying to enslave honest fighters everywhere.