Main-event winner Nate Diaz made a paltry $30,000—$15,000 to show and $15,000 earned for his stunning demolition of former lightweight title contender Gray Maynard at Saturday’s Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale.
Maynard took home $45,000 for the loss.
Diaz made $50,000 for his loss to former champion Benson Henderson a year ago.
In fact, the new contract Diaz appears to be on—the one that pays him $15k/$15k—is actually smaller than the one Diaz was operating under the second time he fought Maynard, back in 2010. Diaz is now making the same amount of money as he was with the contract he was on after winning season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2007.
Salaries from the event were obtained by Bleacher Report from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. They only constitute figures reported by the UFC to the NSAC; in all likelihood, each fighter will earn significantly higher than what is reported here.
The first-ever female winner of The Ultimate Fighter, Julianna Pena, took home $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win). She steamrolled Jessica Rakoczy to win the season-long tournament; Rakoczy took home $8,000 in the losing effort.
Other notable salaries: Maximo Blanco earned $17,000 in a disqualifiation loss to Akira Corassani. Blanco hit Corassani with an illegal knee early in the first round, breaking the Swedish fighter’s nose in five places and forcing the fight to be waved off by Mario Yamasaki. Corassani, who remains on an Ultimate Fighter contract after appearing as a member of Michael Bisping’s team in the fourteenth season.
Rani Yahya earned $20,000 in his loss to Tom Ninimaki.
Full disclosed salaries list, with fight night bonuses added in for award winners Diaz, Chris Holdsworth and Ryan Benoit, who took home an extra $100,000 for Fight of the Night since his opponent Josh Sampo did not make weight:
Nate Diaz ($80,000) d. Gray Maynard ($45,000)
Julianna Pena ($16,000) d. Jessica Rakoczy ($8,000)
Chris Holdsworth ($66,000) d. Davey Grant ($8,000)
Jessamyn Duke ($16,000) d. Peggy Morgan ($8,000)
Raquel Pennington ($16,0000) d. Roxanne Modafferi ($8,000)
Akira Corassani ($16,000) d. Maximo Blanco ($17,000)
Tom Ninimaki ($16,000) d. Rani Yahya ($20,000)
Jared Rosholt ($16,000) d. Walter Harris ($8,000)
Sean Spencer ($16,000) d. Drew Dober ($8,000)
Josh Sampo ($16,000) d. Ryan Benoit ($108,000)
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