MMAmania.com today received the fighter payouts from the Florida State Boxing Commission for WEC 36: “Faber vs. Brown,” which took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., on November 5.
And there were a few surprises.
First of all, we knew Chael Sonnen would receive a quarter of Paulo Filho’s purse for the fight because of the champ’s inability to make weight. That came out to $10,250, brining Sonnen’s paycheck on the night to an impressive $48,250 and making him the breadwinner for the event.
Jens “Little Evil” Pulver pulled in the second most amount of scratch in a losing effort to Leonard Garcia. He earned $33,000 for 1:12 of work.
The event’s headliner — and the face of the organization — Urijah Faber cashed in on a measly $14,000. That’s $30,000 less than he made for his win over Pulver at WEC 34.
Here are all the WEC 36 payouts:
Mike Brown — $18,000 ($9,000 to show, $9,000 to win)
Urijah “The California Kid” Faber — $14,000
Brown defeated Faber via technical knockout in round one
Chael Sonnen — $48,250 ($19,000 to show, $19,000 to win)
Paulo Filho — $30,750
Sonnen defeated Filho via unanimous decision
Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Jens “Little Evil” Pulver — $33,000
Garcia defeated Pulver via technical knockout in round one
Jake Rosholt — $22,000 ($11,000 to show, $11,000 to win)
Nissen Osterneck — $4,000
Rosholt defeated Osterneck via technical knockout in round two
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
“Razor” Rob McCullough — $18,000
Cerrone defeated McCullough via unanimous decision
Aaron Simpson — $10,000 ($5,000 to show, $5,000 to win)
David Avellan — $3,000
Simpson defeated Avellan via knockout in round one
Jose Aldo — $8,000 ($4,000 to show, $4,000 to win)
Jonathan Brookings — $3,000
Aldo defeated Brookings via technical knockout in round three
Carmelo Marrero — $8,000 ($4,000 to show, $4,000 to win)
Steve Steinbess — $6,000
Marrero defeated Steinbess via split decision
Danny Castillo — $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win)
Rafael Dias — $3,000
Castillo defeated Dias via technical knockout in round one
Rani Yahya — $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 to win)
Yoshiro Maeda — $6,000
Yahya defeated Maeda via submission (guillotine) 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, promotions often hand out extra cash for “Fight of the Night,” “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night.” To check out these figures for WEC 36 go here.
The total base fighter payroll for event was $287,000.
For complete results and coverage of WEC 36 click here.
41 Comments »
lol
it’s funny, but you guys gotta think of the upside of these guys getting paid nothing, it’s free on vs. More pay = ppv’s!
Dude, WEC kinda sucks. There’s no way in hell I would pay for a WEC pay per view.
WTF – Faber gets only 14K; uhuh – I see opportunity, Strikeforce, anyone else?
Heck – even if you threw backyard fight with Urijah’s name on it – you would be able to afford to pay him more than the measly 14K
Pulver, looser, isnt even a champ & gets more than 2x of the U’s amount – whats up with that?
Its called signing a multi-fight contract when we wasn’t nearly as big of a name. He’ll get a big raise on his next contract.
Pulver is much more well known and popular than Faber.
I don’t think that is it. Like Mania said, he made 30 grand more on his last fight.
don’t forget 14 to show 14 to win plus extra cash for fight of night or best sub
I don’t get the “pulver, looser” comment, can you tell me what that mean?
All this means for us is free on vs., they start paying more and wec ends up on ppv!
UFC’s minor league players are getting paid little(some got quite a bit). But some of them are so much better than some UFC fighters. Faber could go 155 in the UFC and make alot more. I say put the guys we want to see in the UFC and they will make a LARGE PAY OUT every PPV!!!!!
lol, just cut and pasted this to give to mania.
for those who say wec isn’t the minor leagues for the UFC, the pay outs are a perfect example!
So those guys worthy (condit, faber maybe, few others) should make the jump to the bigs and start getting paid like they should!
The problem with Faber is the UFC doesn’t have his weight class. He would be giving away a lot of size at 155 and I’m not sure if he would be as explosive as he is at 145. Tough position to be in, because $14,000 is pretty ridiculous for the face of the organization.
eat more red meat….or doughnuts
I am sure that would have been more than double had he won.
Like someone said early he more than likely signed a multi-fight contract before he was somebody. Simlar to other sports. Baseball for instance, Derek Jeter. Currently he has one of the top 5 salaries in baseball. When he came to the Yankees in the mid 90’s-in 1996($130k),1997 ($550k), 1998 ($750k). Then in 1999 $5 million and then up to $20 some odd million of present day. He made a name for himself in 1996 went to the world series and by that point was the face of NY Yankees Future. !997 he went the playoffs and was huge as far as his season went. In 1998 he was the team leader, went to the world series and still was not making a million dollars. He was the face of the second most recongnizable sprots franchise in the world and was still not making a million dollars. Faber will have his payday come.
It is all relative. You figure they train for each fight anywhere from 2 to 3 months. With out his endorsments/sponsors he made essentiall $4600 a month to train if he did a 3 month camp or $7k a month if he did a 2 month camp and lost in in 3 minutes. That is not a bad payday at all. It is not champ money by any means but it was his first contract. He fought 4 times in 2007 if he made 30k a fight since he won all of them, plus his endorsments/spnsors, he probably made close to $200k, not bad for a 29 year old. Maybe I am looking at it to simply but that is just my opinion.
MMA contracts are bullshit like NFL contracts. In the NFL, you sign a multi year deal for X amount of money. If you perform better, the owners do not want to renegotiate your deals….But if you dont preform up to par, the team has the option of cutting you. I dont like that too much. I agree that the UFC should have the right to terminate contracts in cases like the Kalib Starnes mess, but if a fighter is clearly out performing his contract, he should be allowed to renegotiate. Case in point, Urijah Faber
Well the payroll was half the gate so proprotionally, it’s much higher than UFC shows. Maybe they should kill welterweight and add flyweights- be the major league for smaller weights. Then they might be able to pull the pay. Doubt it might work though.
I can’t image getting the shit knocked out of me for such little paychecks. You really have to like fighting for those peanuts. I think I will keep my ass out of the octagon.
$14000 for no more than 25 minutes of work, only 15 for his next fight, times by 3 to 5 fights per year and double the salary on every win. not bad, i would let fedor beat on me for that money per hour.
The face of the franchise, 14k.. I know they make more than that for a damn 30 second commercial spot…
Wow, makes you wonder if a jump tp 155 into the UFC might be worth the payday!
makes you wonder? I’d rather get ko’d by or submitted by Diaz and earn 40-50k and lose to a name than to make 14k to lose to mike brown!
Faber’s maneger should be fired!! There is no way he should be making 14,000 to fight…
Seriously! Time for a new manager. He’s probably the biggest draw to the WEC.
I’m sure he’s making decent money on sponsorships, though.
taht money doesn’t count his sponsors someone who is close with him told me urijah ends up banking well over 6 figures per fight
I wouldn’t be surprised. I think No Fear must pay him a fortune, since that is the only sponsor he represented at the fight.
this is freaking robbery…what Faber is gettin paid is insane!
Yeah but Faber probably makes a lot of un-listed money for his promotional work, sponsors etc.
The fight pay is probably the lowest of the three.
yeah but thats still sad…regardless of how wealthy he is because of sponsors, to get only 14K for a title defense is crazy
yep same old same old. same people complaining about salaries.
I am more interested in Paulo Filho’s drug test.
paulo’s pay is waaaaaaay to high, they paid him 30,750 even with the 1/4 cut and a loss? so he would have made like 80 grand if he won? to trip out in the ring? F that.
Someone Needs Some Help With Math 80k Minus 25% Is Not $30,750
Hahaha
Never Mind i Get What You Meant
40,000 TO Show 40,000 To WIn
Close one. You almost got flamed.
I’m sure Filho signed a contract with the UFC when he was an undefeated fighter coming from PRIDE. One of the hottest free agents in the market.
But then… yea… Filho’s demons seem to have gotten the best of him.
do you know what i would do if i didnt like my wage at my job. i would find another place to work. and if my career didnt pay me enough i would re-educate and find another career. why are pro athelets put in a different category as we “regular” folk?
Yea, but say you’re widely regarded as one of the best doctors in the world. For some reason, your pay isn’t up to par. Would you stop being a doctor? Something you’re very good at and something you worked your whole life to become? Or would you try to get yourself a pay increase?
its all personal choices, do what you love for what they are willing to pay or move on.
and dana white fucks his fighters again…
He runs a business, not a charity.
I usually don’t bitch about Zuffa payouts, but Faber HAS to make more than $14,000 in a fight. He main events every big card the WEC has, and he’s the face of the organization. Seriously, more people know of Faber than they do of 80% of the guys in the UFC.
14K! for the poster boy of the WEC that’s messed up Dana white really takes care of he guys damm Kimbo made $500,000 his last fight he was not even close to being a champ!