Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to the hurt business last night (Sat., Dec. 30, 2017) for UFC 219 which took place inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and now it’s time to see who walked away with the biggest piece of the Reebok sponsorship pie.
Cris Cyborg proved to be the biggest sponsorship earner of the night, as she banked $40,000 from the sports apparel giant after defeating Holly Holm in the main event. As for “The Preacher’s Daughter,” she walked away with $30,000 from Reebok.
As for Khabib Nurmagomedov, who walked through Edson Barboza with relative ease, he took home a whopping $5,000 in sponsorship earnings (highlights).
Let’s take a look at the rest of the Reebok payouts — which recently witnessed an overhaul in pay structure — courtesy of MMA Junkie:
Cris Cyborg: $40,000 def. Holly Holm: $30,000
Khabib Nurmagomedov: $5,000 def. Edson Barboza: $15,000
Dan Hooker: $5,000 def. Marc Diakiese: $2,500
Carla Esparza: $5,000 def. Cynthia Calvillo: $2,500
Neil Magny: $15,000 def. Carlos Condit: $15,000
Michal Oleksiejczuk: $2,500 def. Khalil Rountree: $5,000
Myles Jury: $5,000 def. Rick Glenn: $2,500
Marvin Vettori: $2,500 vs. Omari Akhmedov: $5,000
Matheus Nicolau: $2,500 def. Louis Smolka: $5,000
Tim Elliott: $5,000 def. Mark De La Rosa: $2,500
TOTAL: $172,500
According to the revamped 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.