WEC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will earn $22,000 if he can successfully defend his title against challenger Joseph Benavidez in their WEC 50 main event tonight in Las Vegas. Interestingly enough, Benavidez would actually earn more than the current champion if he were to win the fight, and quite a bit more at that.
ProMMAnow.com received the following WEC 50 pre-fight payroll on Wednesday from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (see photo below). Keep in mind the figures don’t represent bonuses or sponsorship money fighters may earn, nor does it figure in expenses such as taxes and licensing fees.
WEC 50 fighter salaries:
MAIN CARD (Televised)
- Dominick Cruz ($11,000/$11,000 to win) vs. Joseph Benavidez ($17,500/$17,500 to win)
- Anthony Pettis ($6,000/$6,000 to win) vs. Shane Roller ($16,000/$16,000 to win)
- Chad Mendes ($5,500/$5,500 to win) vs. Cub Swanson ($11,000/$10,000 to win)
- Scott Jorgensen ($12,500/$12,500 to win) vs. Brad Pickett ($5,000/$5,000 to win)
- Zach Micklewright ($3,000/$3,000 to win) vs. Bart Palaszewski ($8,000/$8,000 to win)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Not Televised)
- Mackens Semerzier ($4,000/$4,000 to win) vs. Javier Vazquez ($8,000/$8,000 to win)
- Maciej Jewtuszko ($3,000/$3,000 to win) vs. Anthony Njokuani ($7,000/$7,000 to win)
- Dave Jansen ($4,000/$4,000 to win) vs. Ricardo Lamas ($7,000/$7,000 to win)
- Bryan Caraway ($4,000/$4,000 to win) vs. Fredson Paixao ($3,000/$3,000 to win)
- Danny Castillo ($9,500/$9,500 to win) vs. Dustin Poirier ($3,000/$3,000 to win)
THOUGHTS FOR DISCUSSION: I’ve always been curious how Zuffa feels about their fighters’ salaries being made public. For instance, when it comes time for Cruz to re-negotiate his contract, and if he’s still champion, he can point to these figures to make the argument for himself that the champion should be earning more money than the person he’s fighting. I definitely think it’s a good thing the salaries are made public as it helps, at least to a degree, to keep promoters honest.
The salaries in MMA fighting suck,To take an ass whipping for the paultry sum of money, Is patently stupid! I don’t think your going to find many genius’s with califlower ears!!
Not every thing is just about money and not every fighter fights because they need the money. Do you think Brock Lesnar thougt his almost half a million base salary was “paltry” even though he took a big beating? Not to mention what he made off endorsements.
Look at Randy Couture with his cauliflower ears, in his mid-40’s still kicking ass. Randy is VERY intelligent. Your claims are complete BS.