UFC 152 Fighter Salaries, Attendance & Gate
Just another day at the office for Jon Jones (besides almost getting his arm broken off, of course). The UFC's reigning Light Heavyweight Champion tapped out Vitor Belfort in the main event of last night's UFC 152 event in Toronto, and in the process guaranteed that he was the top earner for the event.
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: Jon Jones is now the top-earning fighter this year, and Michael Bisping is the fourth-highest paid of all-time.
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Canada
Attendance: 16,800
Gate: $1,921,000
Jon Jones: $465,000 ($400,000 to show, $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Michael Bisping: $425,000 ($275,000 to show, $150,000 win bonus)
Vitor Belfort: $275,000
Cub Swanson: $95,000 ($15,000 to show, $15,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
TJ Grant: $95,000 ($15,000 to show, $15,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Evan Dunham: $78,000 ($13,000 to show, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Matt Hamill: $64,000 ($32,000 to show, $32,000 win bonus)
Demetrious Johnson: $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 win bonus)
Brian Stann: $23,000
Joseph Benavidez: $21,500
Sean Pierson: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus)
Seth Baczynski: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus)
Charlie Brenneman: $18,000
Igor Pokrajac: $17,000
Charles Oliveira: $16,000
Vinny Malgalhaes: $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus)
Marcus Brimage: $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus)
Kyle Noke: $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus)
Mitch Gagnon: $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 win bonus)
Lance Benoist: $8,000
Jimy Hettes: $8,000
Roger Hollett: $6,000
Simeon Thoresen: $6,000
Walel Watson: $6,000
Really low attendance?
Belfort and Bisping get that much?!? While Benavidez and Mighty Mouse get totally freakin hosed on their takes. I don't understand that at all. Even Hamill gets 32K to show? Yuck. That's terrible.
@CollegeWolf Ya, apparently tickets weren't selling too well for the event - it ended up not being a sellout. Not good news - Canada is probably the sport's most rabid fan base (other than Brazil, I guess).
Bisping if the most overpaid fighter in history. Even more so if he gets a PPV cut, too.
@CollegeWolf Just updated the article - Bisping is now the fourth-highest paid fighter (in terms of reported purses) of all-time!!
