Gina Carano Tops Strikeforce “Carano vs. Cyborg” Fighter Salaries
Headliner Gina Carano was the top earner at Saturday’s Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg event, receiving $125,000 for her main event loss to Cris “Cyborg” Santos, who earned $25,000 for the first-round TKO victory.
Renato “Babalu” Sobral ($70,000), Jay Hieron ($55,000), Gilbert Melendez ($50,000), and Fabricio Werdum ($50,000) were also among the top earners for the event, according to the official fighter salaries released by the California State Athletic Commission on Tuesday.
Gegard Mousasi, who won the Strikeforce light heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of “Babalu” in the card’s co-headliner, officially made just $2,000, but is assumed to have made significantly more, with his previous contract for Affliction’s now-defunct promotion calling for a reported salary of $125,000.
The official attendance for the Showtime-televised event was 13,976 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose for a live gate of $735,710, with a disclosed fighter payroll of $468,500.
The official fighter salaries for Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg were:
- Cris “Cyborg” Santos ($25,000 – includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Gina Carano ($125,000)
- Gegard Mousasi ($2,000 – no win bonus) def. Renato Sobral ($75,000)
- Gilbert Melendez ($50,000 – no win bonus) def Mitsuhiro Ishida ($30,000)
- Fabricio Werdum ($50,000 – $25,000 win bonus) def. Mike Kyle ($14,000)
- Jay Hieron ($55,000 – $30,000 win bonus) def. Jesse Taylor ($12,000)
- Scott Lighty ($4,000 – no win bonus) def. Mike Cook ($2,500)
- Justin Wilcox ($5,000 – $2,500 win bonus) def. David Douglas ($5,500)
- James Terry ($6,000 – $3,000 win bonus) def. Zak Bucia ($2,000)
- Alex Trevino ($3,500 – $1,500 win bonus) def. Isaiah Hill ($2,000)
For more Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg coverage check out MMAFrenzy.com’s Strikeforce category.
Pictured: Gina Carano
Tags: Alex Trevino, Cristiane Cyborg, David Douglas, Fabricio Werdum, Gegard Mousasi, gilbert melendez, gina carano, Isaiah Hill, James Terry, Jay Hieron, Jesse Taylor, Justin Wilcox, Mike Cook, mike kyle, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Renato Sobral, Scott Lighty, Zak Bucia
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WTF Mousasi!!!?!?!?!? lol
I’m sure he made more, but damn, that looks hilariously terrible
insulting to one of the best fighters in the world.
Timcat he made more than that, relax, its just disclosed money
I’m assuming that FEG paid his actual contracted price, and the 2,000 would be air fair and hotel?
Or once again M~1 is “hiding” monies, either way we all know that Gegard made more than that, it was just his “disclosed” income, seeing how Strikeforce is a private company thats all they really have to do
Wow i would have been shocked if that’s all he made dude! Carano got paid! These salaries aren’t bad.
p.s what a great picture! Carano is worth every penny!
Interesting that Carano can demand that kind of dough given that Strikeforce wasn’t in a bidding war for her with anyone significant.
I believe they agreed to same terms of her eliteXC deal after they bought ProElite’s assets
That is crazy for a top P4P fighter. Gegard has faught and won in three weight classes over the last 12 months and if he wins the Super Hulk in Japan he’ll have won a title/belt in each class too.
This includes crazy fast victories over Ronaldo Jacare (at middleweight, 2min KO upkick), Mark Hunt (at heavyweight 2min submission armbar), and Babalu Sobral (at LHW, 1min KO punchs) which are not pushover matches. I don’t think Strikeforce contracts keep you tied exclusively there (until you lose) while you are a champion and I think he only had that one fight, Soooo hopefully we’ll see him in the UFC (if M-1 does not get in the way) which will be exciting given their current star and lil’Nog joining up.
I don’t know how many ppl follow the fights overseas but his 26-2 record is legit for a just turned 24 year old. (and this does not include his K-1 victory in kickboxing) He is still growing, has a huge upside, and is an exciting fighter to watch. 2k, all the others get undisclosed pay too so this is an insult.
http://mmafrenzy.com/11305/gina-carano-tops-strikeforce-carano-vs-cyborg-fighter-salaries/#comment-107706
“Gegard Mousasi, who won the Strikeforce light heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of “Babalu” in the card’s co-headliner, officially made just $2,000, but is assumed to have made significantly more, with his previous contract for Affliction’s now-defunct promotion calling for a reported salary of $125,000.”
You wasted that much time typing that?
The key word is assumed, I don’t think strikeforce honored 100K+, but we all know he got more than just the 2k. So far assumptions have not stack-up to the truth (I’ll use fedor as a reference b/c I know he is your favorite fighter as you talk about him more than any other; assumption = his UFC offer rumor which was false; assumption = who was considered for his strikeforce debut which was false) I put no validity behind your Gegard “assuptions” as your just wasting time typing speculation.
“You wasted that much time typing that?”
You’re posts always seem to come off angry… like little man syndrome, lol
Well john I will tell you this. Mousasi is an M-1 fighter, and Strikeforce is co-promoting with M-1. Leaves it a pretty good bet that M-1 would pay their fighter, from their own out of this country’s tax laws pockets. 2K is just because they have to put something on the books of Strikeforce’s own declared payroll to help designate where money is going and to help make the bout professional to an athletic commission.
Keep in mind Fedor “only” got 300K for his Affliction fights but it was well noted that he received a large amount of money from his Russian based organization (even though Affliction paid M-1). Different countries different tax laws.
That is a good point Chrisl,
Can you explain why Babalu got the 75k disclosed? It is the dispartity that seems so crazy to me. Was it b/c he was already under contract with strikeforce? ALL the other fighters on main card bouts atleast took in 10k+ in disclosed funds. Gegard was a card co-header and tied with the lowest payed who did not even fight on the main card.
May Fr07 & you/Dbiz have a point (if I’m following you correctly) that he was payed a rather large amount in undisclosed funds so strikeforce only felt the need to cover his airfare/hotel/etc in the minimal 2k disclosure.
Babalu is signed to Strikeforce in a non-exclusive deal. Since he is officially employed by Strikeforce, his funds would technically be on Strikeforce’s ledger. It is no doubt the disparity that has you out of whack, it is a strange amount for sure and is extremely low considering he is a co-headliner. However, like I said though it has to do with M-1’s deal with Strikeforce. M-1 may actually pay the salary after he fights for Strikeforce since they are his official promotion and choose to do so undisclosed. Strikeforce essentially pays the minimum salary possible to keep their own incurred costs down. Basically the more M-1 takes on the less Strikeforce loses to payroll.
Good to see Taylor is making the same money as he was in the UFC.
Sigh.
I wonder how many times someone will have to shoot the post about the differences between disclosed payout versus total payout before people stop freaking out because fighter X had a higher disclosed payout than fighter Z.
And at this point I can understand why dbiz’s posts come off as “angry”.
Its almost unfathomable to me how the same case can be made over and over and it still not sink in. LITERALLY every time fighter salaries are released, we go thru this routine of explaining something along the lines of “of course Mousasi didn’t take home ONLY two grand along with his LHW belt”…
yeah but the 2k is an indication.
1) a low disclosed “generally” means a lower pay total then someone with a much higher disclosed
2) Gegard’s disclosed amount is “suspiciously” low – meaning that there is a lot of non-disclosure going on And that is worth comment, even discussion.
3) Some of the official article at MMA news sites have made as bif a deal about this as this site’s posters have… “Gina Carano Top Earner, While Gegard Mousasi Only Pockets $2K” – headline from 5thround.com as an example. Why? Because it is worth commenting on.
Sigh.
I wonder how many times we (I thought it was funny to use “we” here like you did b/c it makes it sound like there is some inside Highschool club going on or something) have to explain the obvious before ppl realize that no one is panicing or “freaking out” but rather expressing an opinion or gut reaction to which they are entitled. I find it interesting that you act like your providing explainations is a “task” b/c no one asked for it from “you”. I think I understand that you are just venting and providing a gut reaction post but you gotta see (on some level) that you’re doing the same thing that your complaining about. Ppl see a price and quick post a gut reaction – it only gets made into something more when it is honored with a response. Other ppl see a price and honestly see such for the 1st time and thus it is no fault of their’s for the post (Everyone sees something a 1st time and I’m glad for such posts as it means new MMA fans), the way MMA is growing you’d better get used to noob questions and that is a good thing.
Handling “noob questions” isn’t the problem. The problem occurs when the same people b!tch about the same stuff after every event. I almost have a macro set to repeat the standard lines of “the disclosed money does not include disclosed bonuses, undisclosed bonuses, or sponsor money from space sold on the fighters’ shorts and/or posters. This message will self-destruct.”
not to get into the John v Jcohl round 35, but check this out… Strikeforce disclosed their “payment” to Gergard Mousasi which was omg 2k… Who paid his contracted price of approx 125k to 175k you might ask?? FEG so if anyone doesn’t understand disclosures in the state of California check it out its really basic business.. This really is a non story once you realize the basic business being done here, nothing illegal just business…. its called co promotion…. so 5thround or whatever is smelling up the wrong dogs bum for a non story imho
That’s cool, bsbiz, but who do these “same people” consist of?
Me?, Hendofan?, Timcat?, or Jazzkok?
I know it is not me as I’ve never commented such on any thread on this forum before. I went back and looked at the UFC~100 salary thread and did not find any comments by Hendo, tim, or me, (only a few by Jazzkok but nothing complaining about disclosed money being unfair as the sum total a fighter receives)… I did find THREE cxomments by you complaining/explaining disclosed vs undisclosed to other peeps and here you are again on this thread complaining about the same, correct?
So what poster is being the purpetual broken record Salary thread after tread based on these last two? (maybe I’m wrong and Hendofan?, Timcat?, or Jazzkok? have a History I’m too lazy to find out from before my time on frenzy… Otherwise please explain your comment “Handling “noob questions” isn’t the problem. The problem occurs when the same people b!tch about the same stuff after every event.” and how it relates when it appears like there are no same ppl here b!tching about the same stuff after each event – except for the “explainers”
If I’m wrong and one of these posters has a history… I apologize. BUT if none of them do then what are you talking about because any marco you’ve set is outdated or irrelivant as these same ppl might not exist anymore.
John – Just because you haven’t commented before doesn’t mean the questions aren’t the same. So it’s your first time asking…it’s still tiring to those of us who have dissected and explained this comment 386 times.
If someone actually believes that Mousasi signed a contract to be paid 2k for a title fight, it says a lot about their knowledge of MMA. And what is says isn’t pretty. It says that they don’t understand that NO fighter would even take that fight because it isn’t worth it.
It isn’t worth discussion. It isn’t worth commenting. I’m sorry if I come off as condescending or angry but… That’s the way it is when someone can’t even be bothered to think for even 5 seconds that there is no way he would take that pay cut. They can’t force him to fight. They can’t force him to take crumbs for pay. He agreed to it, and that means there there IS more money coming his way from that fight.
Don’t defend “quick gut reactions” as being worth commenting, especially from someone whose MMA soapbox is as high as yours seems to be. You’re a Fedor guy. I don’t mind that, honestly. But you should have made the connection between Fedor’s Affliction pay (low compared to his competition) and Mouasasi’s Strikeforce pay (low compared to his competition). It’s an M-1 hallmark – pay our fighters s#it in disclosed and we’ll pay them from another country so their earnings aren’t taxed.
wow gina is beautiful!
I think John makes a valid point when he posts that with the sport growing as it is, which presumably will bring more fans to the frenZy, we should all prepare ourselves for a flood of questions like, “whats an ananconda choke?” or “are Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva related?” or “how can Mousasi live on 2 grand?”.
Also, anyone who DOESN’T expect dbiz to have a snarky reply post to something he deems as so obvious, and that we’ve covered a hundred and one times before, really hasn’t been lurking long enough to see how things go around here.
Apparently thats just how dbiz represents the ‘Nati…
Finally, I don’t really see myself having a round by round “fight” with anyone, John included. I try to keep my posts factual and grounded, and I can honestly count on one hand the number of times anyone has countered one of my posts with facts, and not feelings, opinions, and popular sentiment.
Regardless, I’d rather have a heated exchange with just about anyone, anywhere, at any time and place if its about MMA, after spending years and years hearing day in and day out about baseball and football and basketball, than be talking to myself in a room while I’m watching a PPV.
But like anyone else I sometimes slip up and shoot a kneejerk post after an 18 hour day when I see something that disappoints me, like the old payout issue. Maybe John is right, and I should have just let it slide, or maybe I should take bsbiz’s advice and bang up a macro or something on the subject.
I’ll try to keep it in mind moving forward…
I will attempt to be less sarcastic next time I post
especially with the round whatever statement
O and as far as the NoobS go, I’m down with answering questions for them MMA realated, but the posters that have said things on the FrenZy are of better caliber than a NooB they have been just well lackluster in their attempts to stir up debate
it’s not just restricted to Frenzy… I had to tell an instructor at this gym I was trying out that his guillotine choke was in fact an Anaconda choke(I even pulled him aside) and dude challenged me in front of everyone and told me that student should never question him(even though I tested out at a brown belt level, this place insisted I start out at a white belt level which is cool with me since I did SAMBO and not BJJ but, the guy was only a Blue belt TEACHING the class). Granted it didn’t end well for him(the D’arce tends to make people shut up for some reason
) but my point is as the sport grows some people are going to ask the same question a million times and some will think they know it well just from what they have observed through PPV’s and basic classes(not talking about you personally john). So unless they’re completely misguided then I usually don’t see the point in responding. If they want to do the research then they’ll see this has been talked to death but otherwise it’s not worth my time.
It’s a necessary evil of a good sport getting more exposure. I can live with it.