| 29 December 2010
Another year is almost in the books which means it's time to recap a wild and wacky year in the mixed martial arts world. All week The MMA Manifesto will bring you the best that 2010 offered to fight fans. Next up: UFC Fighter Salaries.
Was 2010 a good year financially to be a fighter? Well, that depends on what your name is. If it is Georges St-Pierre, then yes, it was a very good year. On the other hand, if you happen to be Tyler Toner, you might want to consider keeping your day job. While the average UFC fighter made a little over $100000 in 2010, 49 fighters (18%) made $10000 or less. A few more stats that you might find interesting:
- Michael Bisping is not a typo at #2 - he barely was edged out by GSP for top earning fighter honours. He earned $175000 for his loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110, $325000 for beating Dan Miller at UFC 114 and $385000 (including a $60000 Fight of the Night bonus) for outpointing Yoshihiro Akiyami at UFC 120. Money, and Michael Bisping, talks.
- If it wasn't for the UFC end of night bonuses, Carlos Condit's pockets wouldn't be so fat. Of Condit's $249000 earned in 2010, a whopping $190000 (76%) of it came from end of night bonuses. He made $85000 for participating in the Fight of the Night at UFC 115 (versus Rory MacDonald) and another $65000 for Knockout of the Night for making Dan Hardy go nightie-night at UFC 120.
Now, for the salary results. It is worth noting that these are only the reported salaries plus Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses that have been made public. Many top performing fighters get additional bonuses paid out to them that aren't reported, plus the top guys get a cut of the pay-per-view buys for events that they headline (not to mention every fighter makes sponsorship money). Also, many athletic commissions don't report fighter's salary info, so for those we've estimated a fighter's purse based on what they have earned in their other recent fights. Fighters with some estimated purses are marked with a * in the database. This data should still be considered very close to accurate, as most fighters' purses remain rather steady from fight to fight (unless they ink a new contract in the meantime).
So, without further ado, here's the salary of each UFC fighter for 2010. To check out 2011's fighter salary info, click here.
| Total | ||
| 1 | Georges St-Pierre * | $ 900,000 |
| 2 | Michael Bisping* | $ 885,000 |
| 3 | Brock Lesnar | $ 875,000 |
| 4 | Rashad Evans | $ 785,000 |
| 5 | Rampage Jackson* | $ 750,000 |
| 6 | B.J. Penn * | $ 680,000 |
| 7 | Matt Hughes* | $ 560,000 |
| 8 | Anderson Silva * | $ 520,000 |
| 9 | Chuck Liddell | $ 500,000 |
| 10 | James Toney | $ 500,000 |
| 11 | Randy Couture | $ 500,000 |
| 12 | Mirko Cro Cop* | $ 460,000 |
| 13 | Lyoto Machida* | $ 400,000 |
| 14 | Wanderlei Silva* | $ 400,000 |
| 15 | Cain Velasquez * | $ 390,000 |
| 16 | Chris Leben | $ 316,000 |
| 17 | Mauricio Rua | $ 315,000 |
| 18 | Matt Serra* | $ 300,000 |
| 19 | Junior dos Santos | $ 260,000 |
| 20 | Josh Koscheck * | $ 259,000 |
| 21 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira * | $ 250,000 |
| 22 | Tito Ortiz | $ 250,000 |
| 23 | Carlos Condit* | $ 249,000 |
| 24 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira* | $ 245,000 |
| 25 | Demian Maia * | $ 244,000 |
| 26 | Nate Marquardt* | $ 240,000 |
| 27 | Joe Lauzon* | $ 238,000 |
| 28 | Jon Fitch * | $ 228,000 |
| 29 | Kenny Florian * | $ 225,000 |
| 30 | Rich Franklin | $ 225,000 |
| 31 | Yoshihiro Akiyama* | $ 225,000 |
| 32 | Diego Sanchez | $ 220,000 |
| 33 | Chael Sonnen | $ 219,000 |
| 34 | Mac Danzig* | $ 212,000 |
| 35 | Stephan Bonnar* | $ 212,000 |
| 36 | Chris Lytle * | $ 206,000 |
| 37 | Mark Munoz* | $ 205,000 |
| 38 | George Sotiropoulos * | $ 202,000 |
| 39 | Paulo Thiago | $ 196,000 |
| 40 | Frankie Edgar * | $ 192,000 |
| 41 | Nate Diaz* | $ 192,000 |
| 42 | Shane Carwin* | $ 185,000 |
| 43 | Sam Stout* | $ 183,000 |
| 44 | Kendall Grove * | $ 178,000 |
| 45 | Dennis Siver * | $ 175,000 |
| 46 | Ricardo Almeida* | $ 175,000 |
| 47 | Jim Miller* | $ 170,000 |
| 48 | Gerald Harris * | $ 167,000 |
| 49 | Cheick Kongo* | $ 165,000 |
| 50 | Takanori Gomi* | $ 160,000 |
| 51 | Evan Dunham* | $ 157,000 |
| 52 | Clay Guida | $ 156,000 |
| 53 | Jake Shields | $ 150,000 |
| 54 | Sean Sherk* | $ 150,000 |
| 55 | Vladimir Matyushenko* | $ 149,000 |
| 56 | Marcus Davis | $ 145,000 |
| 57 | Joe Stevenson * | $ 144,000 |
| 58 | Thiago Alves* | $ 144,000 |
| 59 | Kurt Pellegrino * | $ 140,000 |
| 60 | Cole Miller* | $ 138,000 |
| 61 | Jon Jones | $ 136,000 |
| 62 | Phil Davis* | $ 136,000 |
| 63 | Frank Mir * | $ 135,000 |
| 64 | Keith Jardine * | $ 135,000 |
| 65 | Matt Hamill | $ 135,000 |
| 66 | Stefan Struve* | $ 135,000 |
| 67 | Gabriel Gonzaga | $ 134,000 |
| 68 | Yushin Okami* | $ 128,000 |
| 69 | Krzysztof Soszynski * | $ 125,000 |
| 70 | Jared Hamman* | $ 123,000 |
| 71 | Martin Kampmann | $ 123,000 |
| 72 | Rafael dos Anjos* | $ 119,000 |
| 73 | Charles Oliveira* | $ 110,000 |
| 74 | C.B. Dollaway * | $ 106,000 |
| 75 | John Howard* | $ 106,000 |
| 76 | DaMarques Johnson * | $ 105,000 |
| 77 | Rory MacDonald | $ 105,000 |
| 78 | Daniel Roberts | $ 104,000 |
| 79 | Melvin Guillard* | $ 104,000 |
| 80 | Alan Belcher * | $ 103,000 |
| 81 | Paul Daley* | $ 102,200 |
| 82 | Johny Hendricks* | $ 102,000 |
| 83 | Matt Mitrione* | $ 102,000 |
| 84 | Ben Rothwell | $ 100,000 |
| 85 | Joey Beltran * | $ 100,000 |
| 86 | Ryan Jensen | $ 97,000 |
| 87 | Jeremy Stephens * | $ 95,000 |
| 88 | Mark Bocek* | $ 95,000 |
| 89 | Jason Brilz | $ 94,000 |
| 90 | Mike Pyle* | $ 93,000 |
| 91 | Brian Stann | $ 91,000 |
| 92 | Dan Miller* | $ 90,000 |
| 93 | Gilbert Yvel | $ 90,000 |
| 94 | Mike Russow | $ 89,000 |
| 95 | Tyson Griffin* | $ 88,000 |
| 96 | Gray Maynard | $ 86,000 |
| 97 | Karlos Vemola* | $ 84,000 |
| 98 | Aaron Simpson* | $ 78,000 |
| 99 | Spencer Fisher* | $ 78,000 |
| 100 | Rodney Wallace* | $ 77,000 |
| 101 | Pascal Krauss* | $ 76,000 |
| 102 | Amir Sadollah* | $ 75,000 |
| 103 | Roy Nelson* | $ 75,000 |
| 104 | Nik Lentz* | $ 73,000 |
| 105 | Paul Sass* | $ 72,000 |
| 106 | Court McGee | $ 71,000 |
| 107 | Brian Foster * | $ 70,000 |
| 108 | Tom Lawlor* | $ 70,000 |
| 109 | Mark Scanlon* | $ 68,000 |
| 110 | Rick Story* | $ 68,000 |
| 111 | Dong Hyun Kim | $ 64,000 |
| 112 | Leonard Garcia | $ 62,000 |
| 113 | Brandon Vera | $ 60,000 |
| 114 | Brendan Schaub | $ 60,000 |
| 115 | Dennis Hallman* | $ 60,000 |
| 116 | Efrain Escudero | $ 60,000 |
| 117 | Mark Coleman | $ 60,000 |
| 118 | Ryan Bader* | $ 60,000 |
| 119 | Gleison Tibau * | $ 57,000 |
| 120 | Kyle Kingsbury* | $ 56,000 |
| 121 | Dustin Hazelett* | $ 55,800 |
| 122 | Thiago Silva | $ 55,000 |
| 123 | Ross Pearson* | $ 54,000 |
| 124 | Matthew Riddle* | $ 52,000 |
| 125 | Paul Kelly* | $ 51,000 |
| 126 | Duane Ludwig* | $ 48,000 |
| 127 | Jon Madsen * | $ 48,000 |
| 128 | Paul Taylor* | $ 48,000 |
| 129 | Tim Boetsch* | $ 48,000 |
| 130 | Cody McKenzie | $ 46,000 |
| 131 | Nam Phan | $ 46,000 |
| 132 | James Wilks* | $ 45,000 |
| 133 | Mike Massenzio | $ 45,000 |
| 134 | Thiago Tavares* | $ 45,000 |
| 135 | Jake Ellenberger | $ 44,000 |
| 136 | Mike Swick | $ 43,000 |
| 137 | Alessio Sakara | $ 42,000 |
| 138 | Patrick Cote* | $ 42,000 |
| 139 | Andre Winner * | $ 40,000 |
| 140 | Caol Uno * | $ 40,000 |
| 141 | James Irvin | $ 40,000 |
| 142 | Karo Parisyan* | $ 40,000 |
| 143 | Mike Pierce | $ 40,000 |
| 144 | Paul Buentello | $ 40,000 |
| 145 | Rich Antonito | $ 40,000 |
| 146 | Jacob Volkmann * | $ 38,000 |
| 147 | Pablo Garza | $ 38,000 |
| 148 | Jorge Rivera * | $ 36,000 |
| 149 | Rob Emerson* | $ 36,000 |
| 150 | Dave Branch* | $ 34,000 |
| 151 | John Hathaway* | $ 33,000 |
| 152 | Chris Camozzi | $ 32,000 |
| 153 | Chris Tuchscherer | $ 32,000 |
| 154 | Kyle Noke* | $ 32,000 |
| 155 | Dan Lauzon | $ 30,000 |
| 156 | Frank Trigg | $ 30,000 |
| 157 | John Salter * | $ 30,000 |
| 158 | Matt Brown* | $ 30,000 |
| 159 | Nate Quarry* | $ 30,000 |
| 160 | Nick Osipczak* | $ 30,000 |
| 161 | Rafaello Oliveira* | $ 30,000 |
| 162 | John Gunderson* | $ 29,000 |
| 163 | Igor Pokrajac* | $ 28,000 |
| 164 | Matt Wiman | $ 28,000 |
| 165 | Rob Kimmons* | $ 27,000 |
| 166 | Brad Blackburn * | $ 26,000 |
| 167 | Jason MacDonald * | $ 26,000 |
| 168 | Mario Miranda | $ 26,000 |
| 169 | Mike Guymon | $ 26,000 |
| 170 | Kimbo Slice * | $ 25,000 |
| 171 | Ben Saunders * | $ 24,000 |
| 172 | Charlie Brenneman* | $ 24,000 |
| 173 | Claude Patrick* | $ 24,000 |
| 174 | Rousimar Palhares* | $ 21,000 |
| 175 | Aaron Riley | $ 20,000 |
| 176 | Darren Elkins | $ 20,000 |
| 177 | Seth Petruzelli* | $ 20,000 |
| 178 | TJ Grant* | $ 20,000 |
| 179 | Luiz Cane | $ 19,000 |
| 180 | Alesander Gustafsson* | $ 18,000 |
| 181 | Cyrille Diabate* | $ 18,000 |
| 182 | Greg Soto* | $ 18,000 |
| 183 | Sean McCorkle* | $ 18,000 |
| 184 | Travis Browne* | $ 18,000 |
| 185 | Waylon Lowe* | $ 18,000 |
| 186 | Tomasz Drwal* | $ 17,200 |
| 187 | Brad Tavares | $ 16,000 |
| 188 | James McSweeney* | $ 16,000 |
| 189 | Jonathan Brookins | $ 16,000 |
| 190 | Kris McCray* | $ 16,000 |
| 191 | Kyle Watson | $ 16,000 |
| 192 | Ricardo Romero | $ 16,000 |
| 193 | Yves Edwards* | $ 16,000 |
| 194 | Goran Reljic * | $ 15,000 |
| 195 | Rolles Gracie | $ 15,000 |
| 196 | Jesse Lennox | $ 14,000 |
| 197 | Nick Catone | $ 14,000 |
| 198 | Tim Hague* | $ 14,000 |
| 199 | Eric Shaefer | $ 13,000 |
| 200 | Anthony Waldburger* | $ 12,000 |
| 201 | David Loiseau | $ 12,000 |
| 202 | Edson Barboza* | $ 12,000 |
| 203 | Fabio Maldonado* | $ 12,000 |
| 204 | Forrest Petz* | $ 12,000 |
| 205 | James Te-Huna* | $ 12,000 |
| 206 | Jesse Forbes | $ 12,000 |
| 207 | Joe Doerksen* | $ 12,000 |
| 208 | John Makdessi* | $ 12,000 |
| 209 | Julio Paulino* | $ 12,000 |
| 210 | Maiquel Falcao* | $ 12,000 |
| 211 | Mark Holst* | $ 12,000 |
| 212 | Pat Audinwood* | $ 12,000 |
| 213 | Rafael Natal* | $ 12,000 |
| 214 | Rob Broughton* | $ 12,000 |
| 215 | Sean Pierson* | $ 12,000 |
| 216 | Pat Barry | $ 11,000 |
| 217 | Chase Gormley | $ 10,000 |
| 218 | Elliot Marshall | $ 10,000 |
| 219 | Fabricio Camoes * | $ 10,000 |
| 220 | Ian Loveland | $ 10,000 |
| 221 | Phillipe Nover | $ 10,000 |
| 222 | Terry Etim* | $ 10,000 |
| 223 | Shannon Gugerty | $ 9,000 |
| 224 | Aaron Wilkinson | $ 8,000 |
| 225 | Alexandre Ferreira* | $ 8,000 |
| 226 | Carlos Eduardo Rocha* | $ 8,000 |
| 227 | Dong Yi Yang | $ 8,000 |
| 228 | Gabe Ruediger | $ 8,000 |
| 229 | James Hammortree | $ 8,000 |
| 230 | Jamie Yager | $ 8,000 |
| 231 | Josh Bryant | $ 8,000 |
| 232 | Justin Bucholz | $ 8,000 |
| 233 | Kyle Bradley | $ 8,000 |
| 234 | Michael Johnson | $ 8,000 |
| 235 | Peter Sobotta* | $ 8,000 |
| 236 | Ronys Torres* | $ 8,000 |
| 237 | Savo Chivitchian | $ 8,000 |
| 238 | Seth Baczynski | $ 8,000 |
| 239 | Todd Duffee | $ 8,000 |
| 240 | Yoshiyuki Yoshida* | $ 8,000 |
| 241 | Jonathan Goulet* | $ 7,000 |
| 242 | Mustafa Al Turk* | $ 7,000 |
| 243 | Amilcar Alves | $ 6,000 |
| 244 | Anthony Perosh* | $ 6,000 |
| 245 | Christian Morecraft | $ 6,000 |
| 246 | David Mitchell* | $ 6,000 |
| 247 | Jason High* | $ 6,000 |
| 248 | Jay Silva | $ 6,000 |
| 249 | Jesse Bongfelt* | $ 6,000 |
| 250 | Kurt Warburton* | $ 6,000 |
| 251 | Lucio Linhares* | $ 6,000 |
| 252 | Mike Lullo* | $ 6,000 |
| 253 | Rory Markham* | $ 6,000 |
| 254 | Steve Lopez* | $ 6,000 |
| 255 | Steve Steinbeiss | $ 6,000 |
| 256 | T.J. O'Brien* | $ 6,000 |
| 257 | Todd Brown | $ 6,000 |
| 258 | Vinicius Queiroz* | $ 6,000 |
| 259 | Nicholas Pace | $ 5,400 |
| 260 | Joe Brammer | $ 5,000 |
| 261 | Matt Veach* | $ 5,000 |
| 262 | Ricardo Funch | $ 5,000 |
| 263 | Fredson Paixao | $ 4,000 |
| 264 | Will Campuzano | $ 3,300 |
| 265 | Tyler Toner | $ 3,000 |
| Total | $26,778,900 | |
| Average | $ 101,052 |
Insufficient Data Available to Predict Salaries:
Dan Hardy
Renzo Gracie
Mark Hunt
Year in Review: UFC PPV Buyrates.
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