(That awkward moment when fireballs fail to shoot out of your hands.)
The UFC paid out $1,513,000 in disclosed salaries and performance bonuses for last Saturday’s UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir card, with Junior Dos Santos, Frank Mir, and Cain Velasquez‘s matching $200,000 checks eating up about 40% of the total. The full salary list is below via MMAJunkie. Keep in mind that these figures don’t include additional revenue from sponsorships, undisclosed “locker room bonuses,” or percentages of the pay-per-view revenue that are in some fighters’ contracts.
Junior Dos Santos: $200,000 (no win bonus)
def. Frank Mir: $200,000
Cain Velasquez: $200,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus)
def. Antonio Silva: $70,000
Roy Nelson: $110,000 (includes $20,00 win bonus and $70,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Dave Herman: $21,000
Stipe Miocic: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Shane Del Rosario: $20,000
Stefan Struve: $128,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus and $70,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Lavar Johnson: $26,000
Darren Elkins: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Diego Brandao: $15,000
Jamie Varner: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Edson Barboza: $18,000
C.B. Dollaway: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Jason “Mayhem” Miller: $45,000
Dan Hardy: $120,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus and $70,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Duane “Bang” Ludwig: $18,000
Paul Sass: $90,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus and $70,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
def. Jacob Volkmann: $20,000
Glover Teixeira: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Kyle Kingsbury: $12,000
Mike Brown: $52,000 (includes $26,000 win bonus)
def. Daniel Pineda: $10,000
Underpaid: Jamie Varner, mostly for the fact that his thrilling and completely unexpected K.O. of Edson Barboza was passed over for a knockout bonus. Also, his $10,000 show money was noticeably less than what he used to make in the WEC. You’d think he’d at least get his old salary to step in on short notice against an undefeated killer. Luckily, Varner made the most of his opportunity and will hopefully be able to re-negotiate after another win.
Overpaid: Antonio Silva. Including his last loss to Daniel Cormier in Strikeforce, that’s two fights in a row where Bigfoot has done little more than offer target practice to AKA’s heavyweight roster. What’s the point of being a terrifying behemoth if you can’t use your freakish size to your advantage? And why should Silva’s to-show money be that much higher than UFC veterans like Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve in the first place?