UFC 84 Fighter Salaries
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the official fighter salaries for UFC 84 “Ill Will”. The 11-bout pay-per-event took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 24th.
Each of the event’s winning fighters, excluding Wanderlei Silva, received a win bonus equal to their “to show” salary. Silva did not have a win bonus and instead received a flat salary.
The top paid fighters for the event were UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn ($250,000), Tito Ortiz ($210,000), Silva ($150,000), Lyoto Machida ($100,000), and Rameau Sokoudjou ($80,000).
UFC 84 FIGHTER SALARIES
- BJ Penn ($250,000) def. Sean Sherk ($35,000)
- Wanderlei Silva (150,000) def. Keith Jardine ($10,000)
- Goran Reljic ($6,000) def. Wilson Gouveia ($18,000)
- Lyoto Machida ($100,000) def. Tito Ortiz ($210,000)
- Thiago Silva ($50,000) def. Antonio Mendes ($4,000)
- Rousimar Palhares ($10,000) def. Ivan Salaverry ($20,000)
- Rameau Sokoudjou ($80,000) def. Kazuhiro Nakamura ($20,000)
- Rich Clementi ($40,000) def. Terry Etim ($10,000)
- Yoshiyuki Yoshida ($12,000) def. Jon Koppenhaver ($8,000)
- Dong Hyun Kim ($40,000) def. Jason Tan ($3,000)
- Shane Carwin ($12,000) def. Christian Wellisch ($10,000)
Remember, the official salaries reported to the athletic commission do not include bonuses, sponsorhips, or fees.
The official payroll for the event was $1.098 million.
For more on UFC 84 click here.
I CAN’T BELEIVE TITO STILL GOT $210K HE SHOWED UP AND STILL GOT BANK FOR LOSING. AND HE COMPLAINS ABOUT NOT GETTING PAID… COME ON NOW!!!!
i agree tito has no reason to complain when you look at some of the other amounts fighters got. hes not a top lhw anymore and is still getting paid like one. poor jardine only got 10,000 and he did something tito couldnt in beating chuck.
I know these are just the ” reported ” salaries but I hope Keith Jardine and Sean Sherk made MUCH more than reported…….. they really helped in selling this event and deserve a good pay even though they lost ……..
I AGREE DIRTY… IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT JARDING MAYBE MADE $8000 CUZ OF HIS MEDICAL BILL THAT WAS NOT WORTH IT. BUT TITO HAS NO ROOM TO COMPLAIN
Given their status as rather popular fighters Jardine and Sherk likely make a lot more in sponsorship money than fighters like Silva and Kim. We don’t know exactly how much but I think it’s safe to say they both made a lot more than their official salaries.
THATS TRUE WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY BUT TITO STILL NEEDS TO SHUT UP
Theres not really much more they can do with Tito in the UFC ….. but theres all kinds of great opportunities for him in other organizations …. I’m sure Affliction would be interested, I know that Frank Shamrock wants another match with him …..
UFC is not for Tito anymore, they can’t sell him anymore, … LEAVE and take your unfair loosing salary with you !! haha
Rich Clementi made 5 grand more than the previous champ. Something is seriously wrong in the UFC. The cheap bastards.
Some of these guys are finishing up old contracts - like Sherk and Jardine and will likely renegotiate better contracts should they renew. Others guys - like Clementi have begun new contracts and getting paid at a level that is more current with the UFC’s present success. I still feel bad for Jardine being hospitalized but he knew the money when signed his deal.
Clementi most likely got 20 to show and 20 for the win. That is usually how it works.
As Stephen pointed out, the salaries of the winners can usually be divided into two; the first half to show and that amount doubled if they win. Fighters like Liddell and Couture would sometimes just get 250k or 500k and not have a bonus if they won, but sometimes they did. Look at Machida, he was probably getting 50k to show and another 50k because he won, I don’t see him making a 50k base salary.
Considering the ridiculous amount of sponsorships the UFC itself has recently acquired (Bud Light, Burger King, Auto Zone, and Edge shave gel among others) it is interesting to note that UFC 84 salaries are about the same as salaries of prior events. So where is this extra profit from the new sponsorships going? Probably Dana’s personal bank account.
From the article:
Each of the event’s winning fighters, excluding Wanderlei Silva, received a win bonus equal to their “to show†salary.
The salaries I reported are total salaries and all of the winners, except Wandi, received half of their salary as “to show” and the other half was their bonus.
Some of the fighters are on older contracts and are this making less than perhaps they “deserve” at their current status while people like Machida made a very large salary, especially next to fighters like Sherk and Jardine, when he’s much less of a household name.
Dana is a 10% owner of the UFC but as it’s his job to be the company’s president and has worked hard to put it in the position it’s in today I think he deserves some of that money. The heads of other sports receive millions and White is entitled to a salary too. The fighters signed contracts and know what they’re going to be paid. If they agree to it they must be satisfied with the money otherwise they’d change their occupation or fight elsewhere if they think they could make more with another promotion.
Larry, you do realize that Clementi made 40K to win, and Sherk made 35K to lose. That very easily could have been 70K for Sherk and 20K for Clementi. Well, not easily, but could have been.
I say these pay numbers are pretty fair, other than Jardine and Tito. But, Tito knows how to get the loot obviously and Jardine is still locked in to some post-TUF contract. He needs to do better in his next fight or 2, so it isn’t forgotten that he’s beaten Chuck and Forrest. I’m sure the Houston Alexander fight and this one will hurt his nogotiating but, at least he should make more than 10K per fight after he gets a new contract.
are u guys kidding me, here is the thing, i dont really like Tito Ortiz but he has a point here, he is right, dana white is not paying fighters up to their potential and treating them like slaves, Tito has been with UFC for a long time - he for sure deservers $210,000 or more,
Dont compare Tito’z salary with Jardine, Tito is a old skool ufc fighter, he should get more then what stats shows, any way over all Boxing Wages owns UFC - even UFC is a mainstream sport right now.
I think its great that in America you can pay whatever you want.. Cuz some one will always take the money…
Amad - Boxing wages are notorious for exploiting fighters and making promoters rich. There has never been a sport run more corruptly and masterfully than boxing. It has been around for 125 years and the promoters and all the powers that be have bled it dry and brought it to the edge of extinction. There may be 10 fighters in all of boxing making bigtime money and none of them fight more than once a year and none of them lobby for the guys on the undercard to get paid more. I don’t think I even know a boxer from any undercard on any major recent fight - and I’ve bee a fan for 30 years now. Interestingly, I did watch a boxing match on TV last night and the bonus for a knockout by either fighter was $25 - that’s right - twenty-five dollars.
tito ortiz, the biggest overpaid jackass!!! i’m glad he’s gone, i think the only time i rooted for him was when he fought ken shamrock. tito is a has been who has no desire to be champion and it’s time for the fighters that want to be there to step up. tito…don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!
10k for jardine…. thats ****ing bull****….
as easy at it might be to say 10k is too little for jardine, i agree with everyone else that it’s part of an older contract when 10k was his going rate. if he thought it was unfair, he shouldn’t have taken the fight. and for his medical, i’m pretty sure the ufc covers that without deducting from the paycheck. this whole pay thing seems to be the ongoing dilemna with the UFC. My feeling is that they could loosen up the purse strings a bit and pay the fighters more, but keep in mind that they also have alot of expenses not only to keep the sport running, but to grow it as well. Think about all the legal fees they’re paying to get into places like NY or to sign with a major network. bottom line is if the fighter signs a contract, then he agrees that the pay is fair.
What the hell, how do some of the people that lost get more money than some of the people who kicked their ass!!!!!!!!!????????
I know Sherk never made 250 grand when he was the champ and defended for the first time. I know I know it’s a contract thing I understand it but it’s still leaves a ton of room for arguement. ****e GSP never even made that much and he beat BJ. I can’t possibly know all aspects of this but it just seems like there a lot of favortism going around and I still believe no fighter should make less than 10 grand win lose or draw, a newby or not. ****e UFC is making crazy notes from pay per view not to mention the door always brings in a couple million. It’s pointless to argue about this I know but it just really gets under my skin to watch corporate america continue to get richer while we get poorer and poorer. Ok let me have it
Well those guys like Jardine who sign those TUF contracts, and it’s obvious he is still under the TUF contract, don’t really make any money. That’s something these fighters need to watch out for because they end up fighting the best fighters in there division for basically nothing. We seen that happen to Koscheck when he faced GSP. In losing that bout, KOS only made 10k which shows he was still fighting under his original contract with the UFC. Jardine earned 14k for his win against liddell, but guess what??? Had he lost that fight, he would have received only 7 grand. Disappointing for someone of his caliber and especially for a Main Event fight.
Tito does have a point. As the sport gets more money so should the fighters and lets not forget some of the ridiculous contracts Dana expects people to sign aka the Fedor Emelienko deal and more
bj penn + tito are old skool and they deserve the pay they receive…plus bj penn just sign a contract and he is one of the poster boy for ufc..plus gsp still got the same contract for another year of so before he could renegotiate…