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Not surprisingly, the title fighters atop Saturday’s UFC 241 card were the top two payroll earners.
Former champion Stipe Miocic (19-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) recaptured the heavyweight belt from the man who took it from him, Daniel Cormier (22-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC), with a fourth-round TKO in the headliner.
Miocic was set to make $ 750,000 in disclosed fight purse, win or lose. He was not scheduled to get a win bonus. Cormier made $ 500,000 in the loss. Like Miocic, he wasn’t set to receive a win bonus if things went the other way for him.
MMA Junkie on Sunday received the disclosed salaries from the California State Athletic Commission for the event, which took place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
The fighters in the co-feature also were in the event’s top five paydays. Nate Diaz (20-11 MMA, 15-9 UFC) returned after a layoff of nearly three years and took a unanimous decision against former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis (22-9 MMA, 9-8 UFC) in a welterweight bout. Diaz made $ 250,000 in his return with no win bonus. Pettis made $ 155,000 in the loss, but would have doubled that number with a win.
Other six-figure earners at UFC 241 were Derek Brunson (20-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC), who took home $ 190,000 after his win bonus for a mild upset of Ian Heinisch (13-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) to open the main card; Cory Sandhagen (12-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who beat Raphael Assuncao (27-7 MMA, 11-4 UFC) and made $ 154,000 win his bonus; and Paulo Costa (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at $ 120,000 and Yoel Romero (13-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) at $ 150,000 for their “Fight of the Night” winner.
The total disclosed payroll for the event was $ 3.318 million.
The full list of salaries for UFC 241 includes:
Stipe Miocic: $ 750,000 (no win bonus)
def. Daniel Cormier: $ 500,000
Nate Diaz $ 250,000 (no win bonus)
def. Anthony Pettis: $ 155,000
Paulo Costa $ 120,000 (includes $ 60,000 win bonus)
def. Yoel Romero: $ 150,000
Sodiq Yusuff $ 28,000 (includes $ 14,000 win bonus)
def. Gabriel Benitez: $ 40,000
Derek Brunson $ 190,000 (includes $ 95,000 win bonus)
def. Ian Heinisch: $ 25,000
Khama Worthy $ 24,000 (includes $ 12,000 win bonus)
def. Devonte Smith: $ 23,000
Cory Sandhagen $ 154,000 (includes $ 77,000 win bonus)
def. Raphael Assuncao: $ 79,000
Drakkar Klose $ 56,000 (includes $ 28,000 win bonus)
def. Christos Giagos: $ 28,000
Casey Kenney $ 28,000 (includes $ 14,000 win bonus)
def. Manny Bermudez: $ 20,000
Hannah Cifers $ 28,000 (includes $ 14,000 win bonus)
def. Jodie Esquibel: $ 10,000
Kyung Ho Kang $ 44,000 (includes $ 22,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Davis: $ 21,000
Sabina Mazo $ 20,000 (includes $ 10,000 win bonus)
def. Shana Dobson: $ 12,000
Now, the usual disclaimer: The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, including the official UFC 241 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. They also do not include pay-per-view cuts that some top-level fighters receive.
For example, UFC officials handed out additional $ 50,000 UFC 241 fight-night bonuses to Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero for “Fight of the Night” and Stipe Miocic and Khama Worthy for “Performance of the Night.”
In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
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