MMAmania.com (www.mmamania.com) has received the fighter payouts for UFC 86: “Jackson vs. Griffin” from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for the pay-per-view (PPV) event held on July 5 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
And the new light heavyweight champion of the world, Forrest Griffin, cashed in big, raking in $250,000 large (not $350,00 as originally reported) for his thrilling five-round unanimous decision over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
He’s now an official baller … congrats, Forrest.
Jackson earned the second highest total of the night, landing almost a quarter million ($225,000), which should help him feed his four kids and then some. And Gabriel Gonzaga did very well, earning $100,000 in a dark prelim match that took place on the under card.
Here are all the UFC 86 payouts:
Forrest Griffin — $250,000 ($100,000 to show, $150,000 to win)
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson — $225,000
Griffin defeated Jackson via unanimous decision
Patrick Cote — $32,000 ($16,000 to show, $16,000 to win)
Ricardo Almeida — $23,000
Cote defeated Almeida via split decision
Joe Stevenson — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Gleison Tibau — $11,000
Stevenson defeated Tibau via submission (guillotine choke) in round two
Josh Koscheck — $70,000 ($35,000 to show, $35,000 to win)
Chris Lytle — $14,000
Koscheck defeated Lytle via unanimous decision
Melvin Guillard — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Dennis Siver — $7,000
Guillard defeated Siver via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Tyson Griffin — $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 to win)
Marcus Aurelio — $40,000
Griffin defeated Aurelio via unanimous decision
Cole Miller — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Jorge Gurgel — $10,000
Miller defeated Gurgel via submission (triangle choke) in round three
Justin Buchholz — $8,000 ($4,000 to show, $4,000 to win)
Corey Hill — $8,000
Buchholz defeated Hill via submission (rear naked choke) in round two
Gabriel Gonzaga — $100,000 ($50,000 to show, $50,000 to win)
Justin McCully — $5,000
Gonzaga defeated McCully via submission (kimura) in round one
Keep in mind the salaries listed above do not include fight bonuses, sponsorships, percentages and other unofficial payments. It also does not include deductions for expenses such as insurance, taxes, etc.
For example, the UFC often hands out extra cash for “Fight of the Night,” “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night.” To check out these figures for UFC 86 go here.
The total base fighter payroll for UFC 86 was $943,000.
For complete results and coverage of the “Jackson vs. Griffin” click here.
60 Comments »
i am glad stevenson got 60,000. he has 2 kids and needs to support his family.
Its stinky fingers not sticky & IMO he is a funny guy.
hey if forrest is making 100/150, what did they offer arlovski that he turned down???
Imagine if Forrests piss test comes back dirtay!!
Gonzaga made $100,000 G’s to fight on the undercard? Damn!
why is Koschek earning more than Joe Stevenson? Joe recently fought for a title and won season 2 of TUF….his agent should have negotiated a better second contract for him!
he has 4 boys
Wow, Gonzaga must have recieved a pretty good rase for the KO of Cro-Cop.
Thats what I was thinking!!! Dam 50 grand just to show!
And McCully is WAY overpaid.
lol
and overated.
overrated? he wasn’t even rated at all to begin with
Does anyone know if this was Kos’s first fight under his new contract? I think he signed a 10 fight contract after TUF 1.
I believe it was. I think he got 10 to show 10 to win at 82.
VM..This has to be his new fight contract deal.. when he fought GSP.. he only made 10K for showing up. now he is making 35K.
For that kind of scratch he ought to finish a fight once in a while.
he finished dustin hazlett at ufc 82 by ko and you know along with everybody else this fight should have been stopped. Look at the damage he did to lytle compared to matt hughes. Matt took chris downed and did nothing kos took chris down and beat him down the whole fight.
Gonzaga makes 50K for showing up and Mcully makes 5K..and it’s not even televised.
Does anybody else think Aurelio might be packing his bags soon when he is recieving 40k just to show?
I was thinking that very same thing.
Yea, he’s probably half way out the door. Or maybe just adjust his pay.
ditto.
yea he don’t belong to the UFC.
does anyone know anything about this guy lindlands is fighting on the 19th?
I don’t even think Lindland knows anything about him.
Here is some generic info on Fabio.
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?fighterid=14126
Just to say that this couldnt have worked out better for the UFC. They can now stage two matches that will really sell out, considering a Liddell win against Evans. By the end of the year if all goes to plan the UFC will stage Liddell vs Forrest and Jackson vs Silva. Its what the UFC really wanted, a chance to get Liddell back as champion which would only happen against another fighter because Dana knows Jackson has Liddells number. But it would be an awesome card if it goes to plan. If Rashad wins I think theyll finally put Machida in for a title shot.
These purses sound really low, how many millions did UFC make from the fight night?
Do UFC have a pension plan? What happens to these guys at the end of their relatively short and low-paying (compared to many other pro athletes) career?
hey guys it’s tito ortiz..
really the pay isn’t all that bad considering 1 of there fights is equal to most incomes in the US.. maybe not for a lower ranked fighter but 30-60k isn’t bad for a year in some states and they fight more then once a year
Yeah, if you are an accountant in BFE. Not if you are a world-famous professional athlete! Give me a break.
we go over this ever single time pay comes up. and honestly i don’t feel like repeating myself so i’ll make it short for your tiny intellect to grasp. that money, is only the base pay they are promised via the contract. its well known that Dana White hands out fat bonus checks to the guys in the locker room afterward. the only ones that don’t get a nice bonus are the guys like Starnes that don’t fight and put on a boring show.
Thank you for making it short kit. You’re a good man. So double the 60K and 120K is a reasonable salary for a world-class pro athlete? Forrest Griffin is a household name. He just had the fight of his life and is now the UFC LHW Champion. And the guy cleared what? A quarter mil? Again, give me a break.
BTW, before you start in, I know all these guys get endorsements and free shoes and all the energy drinks they want. But we’re not talking about that. We are talking about fighter salary. Even with Dana’s “fat” bonus checks these guys are not getting paid what they’re worth.
I don’t see Forrest holding on to that title for too long if he fights top comp.
Me too, even as champ IMO he would be an underdog against the likes of Chuck, Machida or even in a rematch with Rampage. But you never know, he definatly prooved a lot of people wrong last Saturday and when he fought Shogun.
If he fought Shogun again, in my eyes he would be an underdog again.
Not to me. Shogun has had 2 surgeries on the same knee. I can’t see how that will not affect his fighting. We don’t even know if this second surgery will really take, since it didn’t the first time. One good leg kick and he may be finished.
THats why, Muy tai fighters like Shogun, Check leg kicks and take them on the shin instead of the Knee! U act like the leg kick is this big undefendable move or something…Ever move can be stopped u just have to know how….and Forrest will NEVER out Muy Tai shogun!
well lets just hope Rashad doesn’t win.
i am a huge liddell fan but i dont think he should be fighting
for the belt just yet. but if i were him i wouldnt be comlaining about it. must be nice to have some pull around there.
Chuck may not deserve it yet, but if he wins the UFC would be stupid not to put that fight together. I was amazed by the number of Forest fans at the bar on Saturday, and a PPV with Chuck and Forest as the main event fighting for the belt would be a huge seller.
There were a surprising amount of Forrest fans at the bar I was at as well. It surprised me. More people are fans of him than people think.
True
Are the bonus amounts for fight, submission, and KO of the night not made available to the public? I know who won those but no $ amount?
Nevermind, I found it.
fighters now days arent pay by there ability to fight, but by their popularity…. case in point.. wanderlei 150k flat, wehre has griffin 100k to show 150k to win… hmmm
and 100k to show 100k to win for vera… thats a lil bs cuz vera is super hyped… his hyped got exposed by two of the best hw… sylvia and werdum… as much as i hate sylvia but he is still amongst one of the best in the game
why the Tibau’s pay so low? He’s a great fighter and fought better than knockoff Aurelio who got 40k just to show. shame on you Dana.
FEDOR EMELIANENKO has injury concerns ahead of his fight with Tim Sylvia, according to UFC superstar Michael Bisping.
Russian legend Emelianenko, 31, squares up against former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in a fight for new MMA promotion Affliction on 19 July.
But speaking exclusively to SunSport, British star Bisping, 29, claims The Last Emperor will go into the bout with 32-year-old American Sylvia at less than full fitness.
Bisping said: “It’s going to be good to see if Fedor is still the man but I’ve heard on the grapevine from inside sources that he could be injured.
“But this is time for Fedor to step up. Everyone knows what Tim Sylvia is all about but Fedor’s had an aura about him for a long time.
“The guy was devastating in Pride but he’s had a long lay off now and his last couple of fights have been against smaller guys.
“It’ll be interesting to see if he’s still got what he had in Pride - which I’m sure he has - because the guy’s probably the best fighter in MMA history.”
Emelianenko will be the favourite going into the heavyweight clash, but Bisping warned the Russian of the threat Sylvia poses.
Bisping added: “Tim will give anyone a hard day, he’s a very, very experienced, underrated fighter and has knocked out a who’s who of MMA.
“But he’s gone a little bit stale lately – he’s trying not to lose as opposed to trying to win which has given him a boring style.
“In the past he was knocking people out left, right and centre. If he gets back to his roots and goes out like that then who knows, maybe he could surprise a lot of people.”
But Bisping admitted: “I think the fight will play out similar to when Randy Couture fought Tim Sylvia, but I’m picking Fedor to beat Tim.”
i think gonzaga got WAY overpaid. C’mon 100,000!!!!!!!
The UFC will use that highlight reel KO of CroCop for years and years. They will put it on the Ultimate KO’s DVD and continue to make money off of it. For that piece of MMA history alone the guy deserves to be a millionaire. Wins and losses alone do not justify a salary IMHO.
Besides, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss The Tank. His two losses after that huge win were to Couture and Werdum. No slouches. He just had a good win (confidence booster) and that’s not a very deep division. Look for Dana to start getting his money’s worth and giving Gonzaga more big names.
I beleive these fighters are really under paid, especially Griffin and Jackson, Cmon, just 250,000 , for the champ. And less than 1,000,000, between every fighter, You know how much does a BOXER gets paid ???? Especially a championship bout. Do your homework guys, Dana White is taking EVERYTHING. I guess Tito Ortiz, was right about The GREED OF DANA. I would like to see how much did the event got from the tickets and PPV’s. The cheapest seat for the fight was $189. and the front row, was $10,000. !!!! I know because I tried to buy tickets for this event.
I just think they should get paid a lot more than that.
The money these fighters are making is wayyyyyyy more money than they would be making at small house shows.. What MANY people still fail to recognize is that by fighting in the UFC, it opens up a floodgate for these fighters to get sponsors. Go look back and see how much money Joe Lauzon made from sponsors alone when he fought Kenny Florian. Keith Jardine even admitted that Dana White pays alot of fighters under the table and gives them perks and bonuses, and a lot more that we don’t here of.
they will get a stack from sponsors and ppv cuts etc
odd that rampage wasnt wearing a sponsors shirt
other weird thing is chris lyttle only getting $14k for co main event/2nd biggest fight on the card
the dude has been around forever and deserves way more than that
I disagree Lytle is a tough guy but he is not and will never be a top tier fighter. He is among the ranks of Drew fickett and Karo Parysian they are tough as leather but they have already peaked. They dont have the tools or talent to go any farther
Jardie only got $10K To fight Wand.
It’s all about your contract. When these guys sign their 10 fight or however many fight contract, they are relatively unknown to the public. And they have been fighting at such small venues, anything is a step up. Dana is smart and is a buisnessman. I do however think they are underpaid. In comparison to Boxing. UFC now has much more of a fanbase boxing does i would say.
chump change.. for the next biggest sport!! according to Dana white… there still is no money in the ufc… forrest gets more than rampage? unbelievable..also theyre hyping the bonuses.get real.. its small money… rampage fought twice only in a year… so its really small money…
HEY MANNY PACQUIAO a 135lbs boxer got $5 MILLION dollars!!!
dana and fertita is taking all the money..stop the hype already
Rampage doesn’t NEED to fight more than twice a year….
Think about it…
Im sure he made close 1.25 Million in the last year. Thats just from fighting. Not from sponsors or anything else he’s getting a cut on. Just on his TWO fights…. Essentially 2 days of “Work”.
Yeah i realize training is a full time job. But come on… not really… It’s not like a hockey player who plays 80+ times a season… Thats why they get paid 4-5 million more…
re: “dana and fertita is taking all the money”
Don’t forget that these guys have invested tens of millions of dollars into the UFC brand. They have taken huge financial risks.
Rampage owes his whole purse to Forrest!… He said on TUF he would bet his whole purse they wouldn’t go to a decision.
I honestly think part of this whole pay issue is that fighter careers are so unpredictable. Look at some of the recent hype in the past few years (fighters that were supposed to be huge and didn’t perform well), then also factor in draw power, age (years they have left to fight), and several other factors. I think the UFC is being careful with what they pay fighters for the most part and trying to only pay the big salaries to sure-thing fighters (like Chuck, Wanderlei, and other big names).
Sometimes recently the UFC has paid non-contending fighters a lot too - mainly for draw or hype (see Tito Ortiz, Cro Cop). So I think they are compensating based on what they think are safe bets and fighters that could be considered franchise fighters - people they are certain they want to hold on to and not lose to other organizations. Is the pay fair - maybe not proportionally to what the UFC is now pulling in - but this is a business and they are trying to run it as best as they can to continue to make money. A good business model in my opinion is not what Affliction is doing by paying all of their fighters big money and hoping for success. The UFC already is a success and they don’t need to throw millions at their fighters right now.
Personally I love the fights and events that the UFC puts on. Everyone that is a UFC fighter seems to be ok with what they are getting paid - and there is a lot of talent flooding the sport now. There are many people training to fight professionally now and when you have a high supply of talented workers this can drive the pay down. We have all heard these arguments some say not enough some say look at their sponsors (these guys are walking nascar cars - walking billboards).
I say they get compensated well in my opinion to participate in a professional sport, and I know and I bet you know a bunch of guys who would fight for less for a chance to fight in the UFC. Lots of the fighters used to have different professional careers - you never hear about them returning to their old job because the pay was so poor. They enjoy what they do and what they get paid well to do it. With the exception of a few money hungry fighters who basically lit this fire of debate all seem ok with the cash or they would find other ways to earn their living. I have no bleeding heart for people who make thousands or millions/year to participate in professional sports.
u gotta understnad at the end of the day this thing is a business. it takes 2 to make a contract….. if the fighter agrees to the contract that means he feels the money is right for him… and dont blame zuffa for raking in money bc if its ur company u would love to get more money dont u?