The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale Salaries: Chris Leben Tops Payroll
Middleweight veteran Chris Leben earned $70,000 for his second-round knockout of Aaron Simpson on the Spike-televised main card of Saturday’s The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale, topping the $406,000 payroll for the UFC event at The Palms in Las Vegas, according to figures released today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The official salaries for The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale were:
MAIN CARD
- Court McGee: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus) def. Kris McCray: $8,000
- Matt Hamill: $52,000 ($26,000 win bonus) def. Keith Jardine: $55,000
- Chris Leben: $70,000 ($35,000 win bonus) def. Aaron Simpson: $13,000
- Dennis Siver: $34,000 ($17,000 win bonus) def. Spencer Fisher: $26,000
- Rich Attonito: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Jamie Yager: $8,000
PRELIMINARY CARD
- John Gunderson: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus) def. Mark Holst: $6,000
- Brad Tavares: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Seth Baczynski: $8,000
- Kyle Noke: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Josh Bryant: $8,000
- Chris Camozzi: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. James Hammortree: $8,000
- Travis Browne: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus) def. James McSweeney: $8,000
In addition to the salaries listed above, which are simply those disclosed by the UFC to the NSAC and not representative of a fighter’s total earnings, Hamill, Jadine, Leben, and McGee each earned $25,000 “fight night” bonuses for their performances at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale.
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Pictured: Chris Leben
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jardine was on the highest salary initially, but if i remember correctly leben has topped the payroll at least twice
If Jardine had won, he would have topped it at 110k. Leben only did because his win bonus doubled his guaranteed and resulted in 70k.
Does anyone know how these are figured out? I mean is it based on who is fighting? Tenure? Title implications? etc? If a fighter signs a deal for a certain # of fights, is there a dollar-figure spread over those fights, or is that contract more job security?
It’s all contracted for the base amounts, and then usually doubled for a win. The fight of the night bonuses are extra, and vary. It looks like all the guys from TUF were under the same contract. If I recall correctly from previous seasons, Court McGee will make $100,000 for the next 2 years ($50,000/year).
When guys get higher up in the promotion, and earn greater promotional value they sometimes get a larger portion for showing up, and a smaller win bonus, there are even fighters that get a flat pay rate with no win bonus because people are guaranteed to watch them. I think Lesnar and GSP have that sort of contract.
the big names also get a cut of the ppv profit