How much were Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane paid to fight in the main event of UFC 270 for the undisputed heavyweight title? We have all the pay for fighters across the entire card.
The numbers are out and you can now discover what UFC fighters were contractually paid for their bouts at UFC 270.
It’s a dying tradition: athletic commissions across the country used to disclose fight purses as part of an effort to keep promoters from screwing over their athletes. The practice took a massive hit when the Nevada Athletic Commission ceased reporting purses in July of 2020 … but California still does, and that’s where UFC 270 took place: at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
So here — courtesy of the California State Athletic Commission, not some janky guess taken from some shady Instagram post — are the fight purses for UFC 270 fighters. Keep in mind these numbers do not include discretionary bonuses, sponsorship money, or pay-per-view cuts.
- Francis Ngannou: $600,000 (no win bonus)
- Ciryl Gane: $500,000
- Deiveson Figueiredo: $150,000 (no win bonus)
- Brandon Moreno: $200,000
- Michel Pereira: $100,000 ($50,000 win bonus)
- Andre Fialho: $12,000
- Said Nurmagomedov: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus)
- Cody Stamann: $65,000
- Michael Morales: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
- Trevin Giles: $45,000
- Victor Henry: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
- Raoni Barcelos: $29,000
- Jack Della Maddalena: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
- Pete Rodriguez: $12,000
- Tony Gravely: $44,000 ($22,000 win bonus)
- Saimon Oliveira: $10,000
- Matt Frevola: $46,000 ($23,000 win bonus)
- Genaro Valdez: $10,000
- Vanessa Demopoulos: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus)
- Silvana Gomez Juarez: $12,000
- Jasmine Jasudavicius: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
- Kay Hansen: $17,000
For those new to the game here’s a couple of notes: the UFC typically only shares a cut of the pay-per-view with champions, and even then only those in divisions known to ‘move the needle.’ So in this case that means Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane. It is unclear whether Brandon Moreno got PPV points, as past flyweight champions like Henry Cejudo and Demetrious Johnson did not.
How much do fighters with PPV points make? That depends completely on sales, but past numbers have champions making between a million and four million per fight.
You’ll also notice many fighters down the card being paid significant win bonuses: that’s the standard way the UFC pays most fighters: you get half your money to step into the cage (show money) and half if you win (win bonus). So you see many prelim fighters earning $10k to show and $10k to win. Highest paid non-champ on the card: Michel Pereira at $50k/$50k, but it’s somewhat interesting he had to win to beat out Cody Stamann, who looks like he’s on a $65k/$65k deal.
Let us know in the comments what you think of the numbers above, especially Ciryl Gane making just $100,000 less than Francis Ngannou!