UFC 168 salaries: Weidman, Silva’s paydays lead $1.9 million disclosed payroll
UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, Anderson Silva and Josh Barnett were the top earners at this past weekend’s UFC 168 event.
MMAjunkie today obtained the list of disclosed paydays from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the Dec. 28 pay-per-view event at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The total disclosed payroll for the event was $1,872,000.
Silva, who suffered a horrific leg break in a headlining loss, earned a base pay of $600,000, and he would have earned an additional $200,000 with a victory. Weidman ranked behind him with $400,000, of which $200,000 was a win bonus. Barnett, meanwhile, earned a flat rate of $170,000 in a knockout loss to Travis Browne, who earned $56,000.
The full list of disclosed paydays included:
Champ Chris Weidman: $400,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus)
def. Anderson Silva: $600,000
Champ Ronda Rousey: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus)
def. Miesha Tate: $28,000
Travis Browne: $56,000 (includes $28,000 win bonus)
def. Josh Barnett: $170,000
Jim Miller: $92,000 (includes $46,000 win bonus)
def. Fabricio Camoes: $8,000
Dustin Poirier: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus)
def. Diego Brandao: $20,000*
Uriah Hall: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Chris Leben: $51,000
Michael Johnson: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)
def. Gleison Tibau: $39,000
Dennis Siver: $66,000 (includes $33,000 win bonus)
def. Manny Gamburyan: $25,000
John Howard: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
def. Siyar Bahadurzada: $17,000
William Macario: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Bobby Voelker: $12,000
Robert Peralta: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Estevan Payan: $10,000
* – Brandao fined 25 percent of purse for missing weight; half went to NSAC and half to Poirier (not reflected in above figures)
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, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter’s income. They also do not include any other “locker room†or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. Additionally, they don’t include any pay-per-view revenue some top fighters receive.
For example, as previously reported, UFC officials handed out additional $75,000 UFC 168 bonuses to Browne (“KO of the Nightâ€), Rousey (“Submission of the Night†and “Fight of the Night†for $150,000 total) and Tate (“Fight of the Nightâ€).
In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
