UFC 100 Fighter Salaries: Lesnar and St-Pierre Each Earn $400K To Top Near $1.8 Million Payroll
UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre were the top earners at Saturday’s UFC 100 event, each taking home $400,000 for their co-main event victories.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission released the official fighter salaries on Monday for the pay-per-view event, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas in front of 11,000 fans for a $5.1 million live gate.
As previously reported, Lesnar received $400,000 to show with no win bonus for his second-round knockout of Frank Mir ($45,000) in the evening’s headliner. St-Pierre’s salary was comprised equally of a $200,000 is show money and a $200,000 win bonus for his unanimous decision victory over Thiago Alves ($60,000).
Dan Henderson ($250,000), Michael Bisping ($150,000), and Mark Coleman ($100,000) were also among the top salaries for the historic card, which drew widespread mainstream media coverage and could surpass 1.5 million PPV buys.
Remember, the salaries listed below are simply the figures the UFC is required to report to the NSAC and do not include sponsorships, ‘fight night’ bonuses, portions of pay-per-view revenue, which are received by top fighters such as Lesnar and St-Pierre, nor miscellaneous fees and taxes. For example, Lesnar, who officially earned $400,000, reportedly received more than $3 million from the UFC alone for his UFC 100 fight before his sponsorship revenue is included.
The total disclosed payroll for UFC 100 came in just shy of $1.8 million at $1,790,000.
The official salaries for UFC 100, as reported to the NSAC, were:
- Brock Lesnar ($400,000 – no win bonus) def. Frank Mir ($45,000)
- Georges St-Pierre ($400,000 – includes $200,000 win bonus) def. Thiago Alves ($60,000)
- Dan Henderson ($250,000 – $150,000 win bonus)* def. Michael Bisping ($150,000)
- Yoshihiro Akiyama ($60,000 – $20,000 win bonus)* def. Alan Belcher ($19,000)*
- Jon Fitch ($90,000 – includes $45,000 win bonus) def. Paulo Thiago ($8,000)
- Mark Coleman ($100,000 – $50,000 win bonus) def. Stephan Bonnar ($25,000)
- Jim Miller ($22,000 – $11,000 win bonus) def. Mac Danzig ($20,000)
- Jon Jones ($18,000 – $9000 win bonus) def. Jake O’Brien ($13,000)
- Dong Hyun Kim ($58,000 – $29,000 win bonus) def. T.J. Grant ($5,000)
- Tom Lawlor ($16,000 – $8,000 win bonus)* def. C.B. Dollway ($14,000)
- Shannon Gugerty ($10,000 – $5,000 win bonus) def. Matt Grice ($7,000)
* Salaries do not include $100,000 ‘fight night’ bonuses
Click here to read MMAFrenzy.com’s UFC 100 recap and UFC 100 results, or check out our UFC 100 section for more event coverage.
[Pictured: Brock Lesnar]
Tags: Alan Belcher, Brock Lesnar, CB Dollaway, Dan Henderson, dong hyun kim, Frank Mir, Georges St. Pierre, Jake O’Brien, jim miller, Jon Fitch, Jon jones, Mac Danzig, mark coleman, Matt Grice, Michael Bisping, Paulo Thiago, Shannon Gugerty, Stephan Bonnar, Thiago Alves, TJ Grant, Tom Lawlor, Yoshihiro Akiyama
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its disgrace that mir got only 45,ooo……i mean come on dong hyun kim earned more than the main event fighter of the evening…just dumb
I wonder how much Dana, Frank, and Lorenzo made? Just guessing, but it was probably more than all of the fighters combined. Just sayin.
Most company owners and/or CEOs make more money than their employees, just sayin. And once again I have to reiterate that the above mentioned payouts are only disclosed money, not all the money they made. It has been reported that Brock’s actual income for the fight was around $3million, probably puts a damper on your little theory.
Note also that Kim had a base salary ($29k) that was about two thirds of Mir’s base salary. That Kim got a win bonus to put him over the top is irrelevant. You’re better than that, Gunslinger.
Someone please tell me how the hell Bisping made 3 times what Mir a former CHAMP made? It’s says Lesner made over 3 million for that bout that is a payday.
No doubt!
Bisping has a more favorable contract than Mir.
Keep in mind that this is only the disclosed payroll. I’m sure Frank Mir made a good bit of change.
Thats just sick. If your in title contention you should easily make atleast double that. I mean still thats a nice paycheck 45k thats more than most people make in a year for a few minutes work but still
Didn’t Tom Lawlor get $100,000 for submission of the night???
Yep, hence the * by his same indicating the $100,000 isn’t included in the above salaries.
Good to see Fitch making decent money. Kims making a decnt amount to. Mir thats just sad. Alves seems ok.
I’m not too savvy on the $ side of the business cuz i frankly don’t care about that part, but if i’m not mistakened, these fighters have contracts therefor, they can get knock out of the night and or sub of the night and only get a bonus for that but still get the salary that’s contracted to them. Mir must have had a pre existing contract before he whooped on nog and fought lesnar and he probably hasn’t negotiated a new one. Again, i might be wrong, i too am just trying to make sense of the fact that don kim got more than mir.
Biping is just a poster boy. He won tuf and is brit’s poster boy, you know that ufc was taking care of him dude. Believe me, he aint getting paid that much for the fighting.
You hit the nail on the head about Bisping.
Kim won, so he doubled his money, Mir lost, so he didn’t.
You’re also right about Mir having a pre existing contract, apparently these numbers are from the same contract he was under the first time he fought Lesnar. Not sure how many fight’s he’s got before he gets to renegotiate.
People, you should remember that this is a business. The majority of viewers (and a growing majority) are casual, part-time fans who are seeking those fighters with names and/or those fighters who entertain and appeal to that majority.
If you based the fighters’ payment on the number of viewers drawn into the PPV, these numbers are probably MORE than fair. As a matter of fact, I’d go out on a limb to hypothesize that the well-paid fighters are getting LESS than their share if you base it on that criteria.
How many PPV viewers tune in to see a fight that has Mir on the card vs Lesnar?
I’m not at all a frank Mir fan, but how does he just earn 45k, that doesn’t make sense, he should be making waayy more right?
That’s what his contract says he gets… see my above comments.
i haven’t posted much on this site lately, but it’s nice to see that the arguments and complaints are allllllways the same. why did this guy get this much? this guy shoulda made more. blah blah blah. everyone please keep in mind, these salaries aren’t negotiated on a per fight basis.
a guy can negotiate a regular contract where he might get $15,000 plus a win bonus, and 3 fights later he’s done enough to get a title shot or a main event fight or something else where you wonder why he got paid so little. it’s cuz he’s still on the same contract. conversely, guys like brandon vera come and negotiate when they’re on top and then their stock plumments so they get put on the undercard cuz the UFC wants to sells PPV’s. well….same rules apply, he’s still makin good cash for these low level fights. I won’t say the UFC doesn’t try and take advantage, but they aren’t forcing guys to come be in this sport. also, this is not a UFC exclusive trait. look at baseball, football, basketball. alot of players play better during a contract year then they suck when there’s nothing on the line. this is why the yankees suck. they offer crazy contracts to guys that take offers and then just cash paychecks until the next go around.
one final thing, don’t feel too bad for these fighters. they do what they want for a living, they get paid a lot more by sponsors and they’re putting themselves in a position to live a life most of us wish we had but don’t have the balls to commit to. if it was that bad, randy woulda never come back, cro cop wouldn’t be back, lesnar wouldn’t be here…this whole salary article is simply one piece of the puzzle.
Thanks for eloquently handling this explanation, and good to see you round again.
thanks man. good to be back.
fyi, i had to multitask while writing that last bit, please forgive any typos.
2girls2cups,
i agree this topic is discussed way to much on here. Looks like you showed up just in time to be part of it again
hehe, i actually couldn’t resist showing up after that pansy ass bisping finally got what we all knew was coming. he knew he wasn’t gonna win the second he stepped in the cage. you can spar 3 rounds with leben and win on points, not hendo. i’d like to see how the ****ty talkin sounds with a broken jaw. hahahahahaha
i wonder if it is possible for us to have the SAME EXACT CONVERSATION everytime salaries are released….the end
2girls,
when i posted u werent there thank you
So people will stop ****ing about Mir’s payday:
Note: none of this includes any bonuses. These are base salaries only.
UFC 100 (July 2009) $45k
UFC 92 (Dec. 2008) $45k
UFC 81 (Feb. 2008) $40k
UFC 74 (Aug. 2007) $36k
UFC 65 (Nov. 2006) $30k
UFC 61 (Jul. 2006) $26k
UFC 57 (Feb. 2006) $26k
Now that may not seem like too much for someone who was a former UFC Heavyweight title holder, but there are two more pieces of data to prove my point:
Sept. 17, 2004 Motorcycle accident featuring two breaks in femur (thigh bone) and a completely destroyed knee.
UFC 48 (Jun. 2004) $60k
What this tells me is that the contract that he is on is probably the end of the first, but more probably second, contract he signed since the motorcycle accident. He might have one or two fights left, but probably not much more. If the standard contract is four or five fights (probably four), then he has one left, and the fact that he even got to sign a second one says something about the loyalty the UFC showed to him, considering two of the first three fights he had after his accident were losses to Marcio Cruz (who?) (exactly) and a barely heavyweight Brandon Vera and the middle fight of that trio was a thoroughly uninspiring decision victory over Dan Christison (who?) (exactly). I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve more. What I’m saying is that he’s still recovering from the decrease he received after wrecking his motorcycle. He kind of brought this on himself. His next contract will definitely be a big raise from what he’s making now and could possibly reach over double the per fight pay he’s getting now.
And, as always, insert standard disclaimer about sponsor money, locker room bonuses, and all other UNDISCLOSED payouts.
While I agree that there is, and for the most part always will be, inequities in fighter compensation, it was great to see so much cash being paid out. Although considering Paulo Thiago took home just 8 grand, and TJ Grant just 5, it really is time for the UFC to institute dbiz’s suggestion of fighter minimums of at least 10K per fight.
In the case of Frank Mir, I’d be willing to bet a hand that the UFC somehow took care of him beyond whats shown on the books. Dana White, as someone above pointed out, kept Mir on contract during his troubles, and I doubt that all he saw from an event that bagged 5 million plus was 45 grand.
Those 100K bonuses were a nice bit of change, and how great must it have been for a man like Mark Coleman, who many including myself had written off, to beat a “name” opponent at UFC 100 and pick up an extra hundred grand for his efforts. If I’m reading these figures correctly, Coleman earned himself not only a new, alebit probably short, lease on MMA life in the UFC LHW division with his win last night, but a cool quarter million dollars total [or possibly 200 large] in the process.
Well done for a man his age, and always good to see the wealth being spread around to those who earn it…
JCOHL,
I have a question for you if you don’t mind. It’s a little off topic if you don’t mind. I’ve read a lot of your stuff and i just read the forums. I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but seriously dude…what is the deal with your hatred towards brock? I don’t get it. Everyone, fan of brock or not, knows he’s knew to the sport and that he’s got a whole lot of growing to do skill wise in mostly every dicipline in mma. I dont think anyone believes he’s the “best mma fighter” @ hw, but he is the champ and just beat the champ, along with 2 other top contenders.
I’m basically saying, fan or not, what gives dude?
jazzkok – not to sound snarky or anything, but I’ve stated and re-stated my postion on why I think Brock Lesnar is bad for our sport more times than I probably should have. If you’ve read thru my stuff the answers and my reasoning are all there, laid out point by point. I would never ever suggest that anyone go back and read my stuff. It’s not like I’m a professional writer or anything. I only mention it because you specifically asked.
If you don’t see it, then you’re not going to, which is fine by me and no big deal.
I’m pretty much done posting in regards to Brock Lesnar. After this past weekend, Lesnar made my point for me better than I ever could. From my rough estimate, about half the other posts I read roughly agree with my position on Lesnar, and roughly half do not. Seeing as how thats the case, I’ll be avoiding further drama by not posting about “the champ”. His supporters and defenders can enjoy his title run, his pre- and post-fight antics, and score themselves as many DeathClutch t-shirts as they can afford.
Me? I’ll be waiting for someone to come along and beat Lesnar, which will be a favor to those of us who see Lesnar for what he actually is, and worse, what he actually represents.
In the meantime, his fans should enjoy the ride while it lasts.
I don’t want to bore anyone else to tears with this, but suffice to say that my interest in MMA is first and foremost the sport, rather than the spectacle.
Even before 11 July’s “outburst”, Lesnar has pretty much made it clear that he’s all wrong for MMA, a sport built on respect for oneself and one’s opponent. I think sometimes people are forgetting that the MA in MMA is for martial arts. Do you know of any martial art that teaches Lesnar’s conduct? Has anyone even heard of a martial art based on disrespect for tradition and skill?
By his own admission he doesn’t respect his opponents, and by his own actions he doesn’t respect the sport’s fans, his employer, and his employer’s sponsor.
Finally, Jazzkok, some people find his man-child behavior entertaining. I do not.
Some people find it “cool” that Dana White brought Lesnar in to sell tickets and bump PPV rates, and fast-tracked him. I don’t think its cool at all, I think its a disgrace.
Some people find his lack of skill admirable. I do not.
Some people apparently find it ok that this guy is at best a disrespectful, semi-skilled bully, who beats people thru size rather than skill. Overcoming people of this nature is the reason why martial arts were invented in the first place. I most certainly do not find it “OK”.
Some people find his “pi$$ in your face” attitude towards the sport and its participants, not to mention its fans, something to be commended. I do not.
It’s really just that simple.
I hope that answers your question…
Why did Alan Belcher get only $19,000? He’s had several fights in the UFC and came off a win over Dennis Chang?
Kang*
I hope you were kidding when you put Chang
We’ll play a little game… Which of these three answers to the above question in relation to Alan Belcher’s payout is the most logical one?
1) It’s what his contract stipulates.
2) The Pay Fairies looked into their crystal ball and determined that he would be paid $19k.
3) At UFC Bingo, Dana drew O45 out of the hopper for him, and on his sheet, O45 was $19k.
hahahahahaha what a dick
but very funny to say the least.
nice.
Thank God you are here to fight the good fight when I’m not.
And I don’t have my links to post
*new
Wow great site this is my first of many visits to come
I am relieved that some people are not excited about Brock Lesners non MMA attitude lack of class and welll I was beginning to welcome him till he went all WWE WWF on the crowd IT act like that that knock back the sports respect back to the beginning. I hope he comes around and gets something ut of all the time he spent with Randy Coutture the ultimate ambassider . I also would like any comments on this ” did anyone feell Lesner fought Frank Mir like he was afraid to stand toe to toe , I guess he won but isnt is at least about a real fight and when Frank got those amazinf knee shots in it was lay down on him and smother him so he cant hurth Brock.. I think Brock went backwards in creds at ufc 100 too.. I think he could be great Maybe he could train at Team Couture and be a proud champion and a real mma athelete like his wrestling career was. ANy way thanks for the great web site.”
I would say there is a huge difference between “being afraid to stand toe to toe” and “following a smart game plan.” Brock did the latter, and not the former. In the end, a MMA is a competition, and the goal of any competition is to win, Brock did what he had to do to win.
media man, while its true that no one has hammered Brock Lesnar as hard and as often for his shortcomings at this site than I have in the last couple weeks, I do feel in the interests of fairness I post that while Lesnar might be many things, and sadly not some of the things the sport needs him to be as a champion, I doubt he was “afraid to stand toe to toe” with Frank Mir.
I say this as a Frank Mir supporter.
I do think that yeah, Lesnar would be less than delighted to face Mir in a submission grappling match, but in the cage Lesnar is willing to take on anyone, as he assumes, and correctly to date, that his superior size and strength can balance out his lack of technical fighting skill, kneebars notwithstanding.
Plus lets not forget in all the “Lesnar-mania” and subsequent $hit-storm, that the man is in fact a former NCAA wrestling champion, 9 years removed. He just chooses to use his genetic rather than learned advantages in the Octagon to pound out wins and pi$$ off fans.
As for the fight itself, Mir did his level best with a flawed gameplan of his own choosing. He mistakenly bought into his own hype about his new “Nog-crushing stand-up”, relied too much on rattling Lesnar mentally and emotionally with old-school jaw-jacking, and paid the price by nearly getting run THRU the cage by a stronger, larger opponent. Mir barely left the Octagon under his own power.
Lesnar showed a better mental understanding of Mir in this second fight, exhibited more emotional control, at least until the fight was over, and managed to avoid any serious submission danger.
Finally media man, if you listen carefully to Lesnar in interviews, he has repeatedly stated that he has zero respect for his fellow MMA fighters, I’m sorry to say.
That being understood, I can’t imagine him heading to Vegas to train at Xtreme Couture under a smaller and older man he’s beaten and disrespects, or anywhere else for that matter. To the best of my understanding, Lesnar left pro wrestling a relatively wealthy man, is a fairly reclusive individual, and has quite a large home and secluded property on which he reportedly has out-building/s in which he trains, with his own coaches who I’ve not heard of before.
I may have that wrong, perhaps Justin could verify.
I also find it odd that this is the second time today I’m put in the strange position of taking up for a fighter that I’d sooner see leave MMA as he did pro football and pro wrestling, but first and foremost I try to be accurate in my postings here and true to the sport…
Lesnar trains at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, under Greg Nelson, who also coaches Sean Sherk, Brock Larson, Nick Thompson and a handful of other fighters. He’s in a good camp, though not one of the heavily heralded camps like XC or ACS or AKA, etc.
Thanks for the clarification, Justin. I should be embarrassed that I was unaware of who the UFC HW champion is training with.
It certainly sounds like Lesnar is in a good camp, considering who else is at MMA Academy, however when the UFC shows clips of him training, it always seems to be in one of those sheds out back from his house somewhere.
And could you imagine if Lesnar decided to change camps and worked with Team Quest for 6 months with his size and wrestling ability?
I shudder to think…
jcohl, just another thought, but you compared brock to a bully which is a great comparison imo. what eventually happens to a bully? he gets beatup by someone just as big or bigger. who in the ufc hw division fits that description?… ding ding ding, carwin. do what im doing now j, let brock have his time as well as his supporters, and when the time comes [hopefully januarary/february] carwin will settle this. brock will get whats coming to him.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, bigchris2328, I certainly hope you’re right.
hes great if you are trying to appeal to WWE fans, he sucks if you are trying to appeal to people that dont want to be identified as WWE fans. This is my problem…I dont have a mullet, and i do have all of my teeth.