When heavyweight champion Randy Couture left UFC, he did it because he said his pay wasn't commensurate with his contributions to UFC. And since then, he has frequently talked to the media about the way UFC pays far less than boxing. But Kevin Iole has a great piece at MMA Junkie that delves into the actual pay earned by boxers and UFC fighters. And the bottom line is that when you consider that UFC awards bonuses and allows fighters to sell ad space on their trunks, the pay is actually better than most people realize.
When Frank Mir beat Brock Lesnar, for instance, his base pay was only $40,000. But he got a win bonus of $40,000, a submission of the night bonus of $60,000 and $85,000 from the companies whose logos appeared on his shorts. All in all, $225,000 for that fight was an impressive haul, and more than any other promoter would have paid him to fight Lesnar.
Couture is a smart guy, and if he thinks he can make more money outside UFC than he can in it, he's probably right. But Couture is one of very, very few MMA fighters who can make more outside UFC -- and he wouldn't have gotten to that position without the promotion he got in UFC.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-01-2008 @ 5:21PM
Terrence Johnson said...
if you trust kevin iole and official ufc content partner yahoo sports for objective coverage of anything, you are asking to be misinformed. pretty predictable that dana white would go to his favorite pr agent to get a story like this out there
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5-01-2008 @ 7:09PM
WitchDrgn said...
Mir may have won the fight but he did not beat Lesnar. In fact he had no answer for the overwhelming power that Lesnar displayed on his face. I never liked Mir but give respect to his BJJ skills. If they fought today Lesnar beats the crap out of him again and does not get submitted this time. I look forward to Coleman and Lesnar in a few months. Coleman is a stud but has been known to run out of gas. His wrestling skills match those of Lesnar and it should be a good fight. I know people don't like Lesnar because he wqs on the wwe but be sure that he's for real in the sport. I'd love to see him and Kevin Ferguson get in the cage.
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5-17-2008 @ 4:03PM
Ed said...
"Bonuses" are not part of a fighters salary, nor are endorsement monies. Compare the PPV price and buys of any UFC event, to the price and number of buys for any half way decent boxing card and the fighter/promoter profit split is way out of whack.
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