Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to the hurt business last Saturday (July 7, 2018) for UFC 226, which took place inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now it’s time to see who walked away with the biggest piece of the Reebok sponsorship pie.
Event headliners Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier were the leading earners, as the each took home $40,000 as champions. Of course, “DC” knocked Stipe out in the very first round to win his second title in as many divisions.
The next highest earners were Anthony Pettis and Raphael Assuncao, who scored $15,000 paydays after taking out Michael Chiesa and Rob Font, respectively. Event co-headliners Derrick Lewis walked away with a $10,000 check from Reebok, while Francis Ngannou took home $5,000 from the sports apparel giant following their lackluster fight.
But that’s not all, take a look at the rest of the Reebok payouts courtesy of MMA Junkie.
Daniel Cormier: $40,000 def. Stipe Miocic: $40,000
Derrick Lewis: $10,000 def. Francis Ngannou: $5,000
Mike Perry: $5,000 def. Paul Felder: $10,000
Anthony Pettis: $15,000 def. Michael Chiesa: $10,000
Khalil Rountree: $5,000 def. Gokhan Saki: $3,500
Paulo Costa: $3,500 def. Uriah Hall: $10,000
Raphael Assuncao: $15,000 def. Rob Font: $5,000
Drakkar Klose: $4,000 def. Lando Vannata: $4,000
Curtis Millender: $3,500 def. Max Griffin: $4,000
Dan Hooker: $5,000 def. Gilbert Burns: $5,000
Emily Whitmire: $3,500 def. Jamie Moyle: $3,500
TOTAL: $209,500
According to the payout structure (see it), the more fights you have combined with UFC and the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Strikeforce promotions, the more coin you have for your combat sports piggy bank. And the less fights you have under the ZUFFA banner … well, the less you get. If you have a problem with the structure, take it up with UFC … not Reebok.
According to the report, fighters will also receive royalty and payments up to 20-30 percent of any UFC-related merchandise sold that bears his or her likeness. That’s a great way for the Internet “morons” to help the cause.