He might not be quite as pretty now as he was when he entered the Octagon at UFC 129, but Georges St-Pierre's bank account looks much nicer today.  GSP was the top earner at Saturday's monumental UFC 129, pocketing his usual $400,000 base salary.  This also propels GSP to the top of our list of top MMA earners in 2011.  The UFC also gave out its highest purse ever for end of the night bonuses - $129,000 - which caused some fighters to earn more in one night than they had over the course of their whole career.

Before we go any further, we should note that Ontario's Athletic Commission doesn't release fighter pay info, so none of the following salary data for the event is official.  However, you can get a fairly accurate picture of a fighter's pay based on official purse info released from past fights.  So, based on that info, here is the estimated pay breakdown for the 24 fighters that traded blows at the event (but please remember - this is only an estimate, not official info, especially for any fighters that made their UFC debuts at the event).  These numbers obviously also don't include any PPV revenue, undisclosed bonuses and/or sponsorship money any of these fighters may have made.

Update: we reveal GSP's PPV revenue and sponsorship earnings for UFC 129 here.
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Nick Diaz has complained recently that he is "underpaid".  Whether or not you agree with him depends on your definition of "underpaid".  Diaz was the top earner at Saturday's Strikeforce: Diaz vs Daley event, pocketing $175,000 for his five minutes of work.  $175,000 for five minutes - underpaid?!  Like I said, depends on your definition of the word.  Here is the complete fighter salary info for the event, straight from the California Athletic Commission. no comments

Saturday night might have been a "wonderful" night for Phil Davis, as he got the biggest win of his young MMA career, but it was an even better one, both in the cage and out, for Johny Hendricks.  Due to winning Knockout of the Night, Hendricks pocketed the highest salary at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Davis.  And, in other news, the Korean Zombie deserves a raise.  Here are all the fighter salaries for the event, straight from the Washington State Athletic Commission: no comments

Some guys just can't help but win.  Take Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, for instance.  Despite being pummelled by Jon Jones on Saturday night and relinquishing his UFC Light Heavyweight title to the young upstart, Shogun's bank account got as swollen as his face.  Rua was the top earner at the event, taking home $165,000. no comments

Saturday night's Strikeforce: Feijao vs Henderson fight card was all about Dan Henderson.  Not only did the 40-year-old Henderson become the oldest current MMA champion, sending Rafael Feijao into La-La Land and snatching his light heavyweight belt, he also took home a cool $250,000 for his efforts.  Strikeforce ended up paying out $438,000 to 20 fighters on the card, so Hendo's quarter million payday is quite the haul.  Here is the full fighter salary info, straight from the Ohio Athletic Commission.

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Leading into last Thursday's UFC Live: Sanchez vs Kampmann fight card in Lousville, main eventer Diego Sanchez announced that he had changed his nickname from "The Nightmare" to "The Dream" (side note: since when were we able to choose our own nicknames? When I was a boy, nicknames were assigned to you, not chosen by you.  Hence my nickname growing up, "Moonhead".).  It turned out his new moniker was fitting, as Sanchez's fight versus Martin Kampmann went just like he had dreamed it, although probably minus all of his own blood he had to spill.  It also turned into a dream financial windfall for the welterweight, as he went home with $260,000, making him the top earner for the event. no comments

Even if Michael Bisping does get fined for the spitting incident after his match at UFC 127, he probably won't be crying poor.  The brash Brit was the top earner at Saturday's event, pulling in $425,000 for his dismantling of Jorge Rivera.  Despite never being a top-tier fighter, Bisping continues to bank far more money than big name guys like B.J. Penn. 

Before we go any further, we should note that Australia's Athletic Commission doesn't release fighter pay info, so none of the following salary data for the event is official.  However, you can get a fairly accurate picture of a fighter's pay based on official purse info released from past fights.  So, based on that info, here is the estimated pay breakdown for the 22 fighters that traded blows at the event (but please remember - this is only an estimate, not official info, especially for any fighters that made their UFC debuts at the event or guys like Mark Hunt, who have never had his UFC purse info released in the past). no comments

Would you take an Anderson Silva front kick to your face for $275,000?  Vitor Belfort did.  Despite losing UFC 126's main event, Belfort actually got paid a higher reported salary than his tormentor, Silva.  In the end, when you take Silva's $75,000 Knockout of the Night bonus into account, both men did end up earning the same, $275,000 for their blood, sweat and tears, but only one of them got to kick the other in the face.

In total Zuffa forked out $1,597,000 in reported salaries and end of night bonuses to the 22 fighters on the card, which drew a live crowd of 10,893 for a gate of $3,600,000. Here is how the pie was split up: no comments

Nick Diaz not only came out on top of Saturday's Strikeforce: Diaz vs Cyborg's main event, he also came out of the event with the fattest pockets of the bunch.  Strikeforce's Welterweight Champion pocketed a cool quarter million dollars for his successful title defense vs Evangelista Santos - an impressive amount when you take into consideration the event only drew 9,059 people to the HP Pavilion in San Jose, for a gross of $533,214.50.

Here is the complete fighter salary info for all 20 combatants on the card.

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It isn't every day that Yves Edwards finds himself one of the top money-earners of a UFC event, but lo and behold he came out near the top financially at last weekend's UFC Fight for the Troops 2.  Winning two end of the night bonuses (one for Fight of the Night and one for Submission of the Night) certainly helped matters for the Bahamian fighter.  Before we go any further, we should note that the Texas Athletic Commission doesn't release fighter pay info, so none of the following salary data for the event is official.  However, you can get a fairly accurate picture of a fighter's pay based on official purse info released from past fights.  And based on that data, Edwards comes out as one of the top earners at Fight for the Troops 2.  Here is the estimated pay breakdown for the 22 fighters that traded blows at the event (but please remember - this is only an estimate, not official info, especially for the former WEC fighters that made their UFC debuts at the event - for those, their WEC pay info was used for the estimate).
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