If you are an up-and-coming MMA fighter, or maybe you’re thinking about choosing professional MMA as a possible career choice, then you will likely find the UFC 117 fighter salaries quite inspiring.
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva clocks in with a $200,000 payday, as does UFC Hall-of-Famer Matt Hughes. They were the night’s biggest winners.
On the other end of the spectrum were Christian Morecraft, Rodney Wallace and Todd Brown, each earning $6,000 for their losing efforts. While $6,000 is not great, it’s not awful for relatively unknown fighters who lost. Also, these starting salaries have improved over what they once were.
Most impressive seem to be, not the highest or lowest paid on the card, but the other salaries; Jon Fitch $108,000, Thiago Alves $60,000, Phil Davis $18,000 Rick Story $22,000. These are good numbers. Roy Nelson‘s pay isn’t the best, but he’s likely still on his TUF contract, which he should be able to renew with a pay jump when it runs out.
UFC 117 fighter salaries:
Anderson Silva: $200,000 (no win bonus)
def. Chael Sonnen: $35,000
Jon Fitch: $108,000 (includes $54,000 win bonus)
def. Thiago Alves: $60,000
Clay Guida: $56,000 ($28,000 win bonus)
def. Rafael dos Anjos: $12,000
Matt Hughes: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus)
def. Ricardo Almeida: $35,000
Junior Dos Santos: $80,000 ($40,000 win bonus)
def. Roy Nelson: $15,000
Rick Story: $22,000 ($11,000 win bonus)
def. Dustin Hazelett: $18,000
Phil Davis: $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus)
def. Rodney Wallace: $6,000
Johny Hendricks: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
def. Charlie Brenneman: $8000
Tim Boetsch: $32,000 ($16,000 win bonus)
def. Todd Brown: $6,000
Stefan Struve: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Christian Morecraft: $6,000
Dennis Hallman: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
def. Ben Saunders: $12,000
The salaries listed above do not include other money fighters may have earned through sponsorships, UFC 117 fight night bonuses, Pay-Per-View percentages or other methods. The figures also do not represent the fighters’ expenses such as taxes, licensing fees, etc.