Fans of mixed martial arts are an obsessive bunch. They love to comb over every little piece of information that has to do with the sport and one of the favorite topics to discuss is fighter pay.
Certain athletic commissions disclose fighter pay after a fight card is over; Nevada is one of the states that does so. When the commission released the fighter pay for the recent The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale fight card, fans learned that Cat Zingano took home a salary of $14,000 for her third-round TKO win over former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate. That amount made Zingano the lowest paid victor on the card, taking home $2,000 less than the victorious fighters from TUF.
On Thursday UFC president Dana White was asked about Zingano’s pay, “All these girls are just starting out. When we signed these 10 girls, who the hell knew what was going to happen?”
What has happened so far is that the first women’s bout saw UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and her challenger Liz Carmouche more than live up to the top billing they received on the UFC 157 pay-per-view card. While Zingano and Tate, in the second women’s bout, each earned $50,000 in “Fight of the Night” bonus money for their efforts.
In short, the UFC’s experiment in WMMA has been a success during its limited roll out.
White, possibly referencing the UFC’s history for undisclosed discretionary bonuses went on to say, “I can guarantee you this: if you call Cat right now and ask her if she’s unhappy with the pay she got here, I guarantee you that she’s not going to tell you yes. I think she made a couple more dollars than $14,000, I think she’s going to be ok.”
**All quotes obtained first hand by BR MMA
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