(Dominick Cruz made $2,459.02 per second for his 61-second destruction of Takeya Mizugaki. / Photo via Getty)
The UFC paid out $1,433,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses to the 22 fighters who competed at UFC 178, with seven of those fighters comfortably landing in six-figure territory. Leading the list is — you guessed it — Conor McGregor, who tacked on $125,000 in bonuses to his already respectable show-money, for a grand total of 200 large. The second-biggest check went to UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, who gets paid under a quirky “$129k to show, $54k to win” arrangement.
The full list of disclosed payouts is below, along with our usual underpaid/overpaid picks. Note that these figures do not include additional revenue from sponsorships, undisclosed “locker room bonuses,” or percentages of pay-per-view revenue that certain UFC stars are entitled to.
Demetrious Johnson: $183,000 (includes $54,000 win bonus)
Chris Cariaso: $24,000
Donald Cerrone: $126,000 (includes $63,000 win bonus)
Eddie Alvarez: $100,000
Conor McGregor: $200,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.)
Dustin Poirier: $34,000
Yoel Romero: $108,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Tim Kennedy: $120,000 (includes $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Cat Zingano: $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus)
Amanda Nunes: $15,000
Dominick Cruz: $150,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus)
Takeya Mizugaki: $32,000
Jorge Masvidal: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
James Krause: $15,000
Stephen Thompson: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
Patrick Cote: $33,000
Brian Ebersole: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus)
John Howard: $21,000
Kevin Lee: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
Jon Tuck: $10,000
Manny Gamburyan: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
Cody Gibson: $10,000
Underpaid: If you made a list of the most impressive performances at UFC 178, Cat Zingano elbowing Amanda Nunes’s face off would probably round out the top 5. And yet, the women’s bantamweight #1 contender didn’t even crack $20,000 in the official payouts. Conor McGregor and Demetrious Johnson made over ten times the disclosed money that Zingano did on Saturday. Granted, Cat Zingano is neither an “international superstar” nor a UFC champion, but still, you’d expect a PPV main-carder to get more guaranteed cash than Kevin friggin’ Lee. Don’t worry, we’ve already sent a very strongly-worded letter to NOW.
Overpaid: I still feel salty about Yoel Romero cheating his way to $79,000 in bonuses. (Yeah, yeah, it’s not his fault, blame the officiating, if you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’, etc.) Also, Brian Ebersole and John Howard collectively made $63,000 for their prelim fight, when they should have instead been given a can of Porn ‘n’ Beans to share and bus tickets back home. That fight sucked, is what I’m saying.