Official UFC 74 Fighter Salaries
MMAFrenzy.com has just received the official UFC 74 fighter salaries directly from the Nevada State Athletic Comission. The numbers below represent the amounts fighters received from the UFC that are requrired to be reported to the sanctioning body, in this case the NSAC. These figures do not include mandatory deductions or payments received from sponsors.
Randy Couture (defeated Gabriel Gonzaga)
- $250,000 ($250,000 to show, no win bonus)
Gabriel Gonzaga (defeated by Randy Couture)
- $45,000 ($45,000 to show)
Roger Huerta (defeated Alberto Crane)
- $34,000 ($17,000 to show, $17,000 win bonus)
Alberto Crane (defeated by Roger Huerta)
- $4,000 ($4,000 to show)
Georges St. Pierre (defeated Josh Koscheck)
- $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 win bonus)
Josh Koscheck (defeated by Georges St. Pierre)
- $10,000 ($10,000 to show)
Joe Stevenson (defeated Kurt Pellegrino)
- $32,000 ($16,000 to show, $16,000 win bonus)
Kurt Pellegrino (defeated by Joe Stevenson)
- $8,000 ($8,000 to show)
Patrick Cote (defeated Kendall Grove)
- $24,000 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus)
Kendall Grove (defeated by Patrick Cote)
- $12,000 ($12,000 to show)
Renato “Babalu” Sobral (defeated David Heath)
- $50,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 win bonus withheld by NSAC)
David Heath (defeated by Renato Sobral)
- $6,000 ($6,000 to show)
Frank Mir (defeated Antoni Hardonk)
- $72,000 ($36,000 to show, $30,000 win bonus)
Antoni Hardonk (defeated by Frank Mir)
- $8,000 ($8,000 to show)
Thales Leites (defeated Ryan Jensen)
- $18,000 ($9,000 to show, $9,000 win bonus)
Ryan Jensen (defeated by Thales Leites)
- $4,000 ($4,000 to show)
Clay Guida (defeated Marcus Aurelio)
- $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 win bonus)
Marcus Aurelio (defeated by Clay Guida)
- $30,000 ($30,000 to show)
Total disclosed payroll: $755,000
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Randy should be getting more than $250,000 as payment for hsi fight with Gonzaga. I know he'll get more in bonuses and other things will factor into a big payday for Randy. My point is that his base pay of $250,000 is not enough. Also is anyone disgusted that Koscheck gets $10,000 as his base salary and he is in the co-main event?!
It's too bad the UFC can't fiure out a better insentive. If they had one even fight ourse,imagine how hard these guys would fight to win. I see their purse was basiclly doubled to win, but if they need something different. I mean Aurelio got pai twice as much as Guida to lose. And Cro Cop got 125,000 $ to lose to Gonzalaz back in 71. Something has got to change.
I think Couture's payout was good consider he probably took home close to a million with sponsorships factored it.
Koscheck's pay does seem very low but he may simply be coming to the end of an older contract and could sign a new, more lucrative deal though a win would have made him a lot more money his new deal (if there is one coming) should be pretty good none the less.
At Scotchdow – I think that might just be how it remains in fight sports. The incentive comes because the more fighters win (and the bigger names they defeat) the bigger their base salary goes. Again without knowing the exact status of contracts it is hard to go into details but it happens occasionally where a fighter loses and takes home more. It could have happened in the main event if Randy had lost but I think a boost in pay will happen over time but this event appears much better than others I have seen.
I think overall, the pay should increase. All these seem low. I guess I just expect that since the UFC as exploded in popularity, I just thought the payouts would too.
I am not trying to argue that the pay isn't low as I have stated several times in the past my displeasure with the pay but I don't think these fighters are making squat either. Remember a lot of them receive substantial sponsorships so these amounts are simply part of their income. I think as competition increases in MMA the UFC will raise their payouts to be more competitive. One such case will be Brock Lesnar who, despite only having just one MMA fight, is likely to make triple figures per fight in the UFC.
Quite frankly the little guy is who is left out but by reporting these figures to the public and making the UFC aware of your displeasure with the pay can truly make a difference.
I totally agree with Kris. Think about it….. $250,000. If a person that works 40 hours a week for 52 weeks made that kind of money….he would make around $4,810 a week. Now I dont know about you guys, but I surley dont make that kind of money. I guess I am one of those guys that think most athletes are over paid. I think the way the UFC pays its fighters is more than fair. Now guys like Ryan Jensen, I kinda feel sorry for….but if he gets 3 or 4 fights in a year…its not toooo bad, but should get a lil more cash if they dont let him fight a lil more because fighters need to train full time to be at their best…..which would kinda kill the full time job thing.
Again I am not sure who his sponsors are/were but even if Jensen had 4-5 sponsors paying several thousand a piece (plus free gear) he is still making a good amount of money in a year.
yeah….. thats true. sponsers pay the big bux. im sure Dana makes sure his fighters are taken care of for the most part anyway. I heard something on a radio show that Matt Hughes said. He said the bigger names make much more money than the press show. He was very hesitant on how much, but when the host said "is it about $500,000?" Hughes said, much higher than that.
Right and that's what I try to get over in the article. The amount the NSAC gives me is not their actual take but it all we have to go on. The majority of most fighters income is from sponsors and that was what Hughes as referring to as well.
Wow more than $500,000!? That's awesome; it would be great to see all the fighters compensated, so they don't have to work more than one job. Joe Rogan made a great point during a PPV. He said something along these lines, "The only thing I wish is that fighters would get paid thirty times more than they are getting now, so they can just focus on training." How cool would that be? So a guy like Ryan Jenson would get like a $100,000. I like Jenson; I hope to see him back in the UFC.
I think that UFC fighters get paid way to little when you look at boxing. Boxers like Oscar make like between $15,000,000. and $30,000,000. a fight. And look how boring the sport is. The UFC is so much more entertaining than boxing, and the sport is so much more popular than boxing. I think that Liddell, Rampage, Cotoure, St.Pierre, and Hughes, fighters like that should make more than a $1,000,000.00 a fight because the UFC makes more than $1,000,000.00 a fight just for the ticket sales. I heard that they make like $2,000,000.00 and $3,000,000.00 just at the gate. I think that the big fighters should each have a set pay, and the other fighters should divide the ticket sales money, depending on there number of fights in the UFC and there experience level. But I think that the minimum pay out should be no less than $25,000.00 for each fighter. And yes the bigger there name the more money because, that means more tickets sold. And that $25,000.00 is without sponsors and things like that, just a flat rate.
I used to be a huge boxing fan. I still watch the old fights(Ali-Frazier, Tommy Hearns-Marvin Haggler,etc…)The sport used to be entertaining. I find it boering anymore. Part of what killed the sport is $$$$. I think the UFC is trying to responsibly move to the next level. The chaos of changing the sport over night could kill it. I also know that Zuffa is puting a large amount back into the sport. They spend alot of money on events for the fans(like weigh-ins) The fighters will make their money. As soon as Rampage beat Liddell, Dana signned a new contract for him.
I agree with you Scott that the top fighters should be making more money. I believe the more money you pay a fighter the more he'll be focused and he would train harder knowing that millions are ont he line. Also there might be fighters that are willing to take more chances and risks. I think a fighter that might be motivated if millions of dollars were on the line is Arlovski; then we might see the old Arlovski who was ruthless and sometime reckless. With that ruthless and reckless attitude he was destroying fighters. If he can be like that again; then Couture might be in trouble.
if atleast one of the morons in this page were to actually educate themselfs on this topic your arguments would actually make sense. if u compare the revenue that boxing makes to the ufc u would see that CHUCK LIDDELL, RAMPAGE, AND RANDY COUTURE should atleast and i really mean atleast should be pocketing 10 million. this pay would be so they could fight their heart out without losing interest even though they deserve over 10 million. Mike tyson Vs. Evander Holifield pocketed 30 million and 35 million for the winner with revenues of 1.4 million for ppv, and the iceman vs. rampage did somewhere in the million margin.