Former UFC champion Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz both banked six-figure purses for their heavily-anticipated middleweight meeting in the main event of UFC 183, according to figures released by the Nevada Athletic Commission to MMAFighting.com on Monday.
Fighting for the first time since suffering a grisly broken leg in Dec. 2013, Silva earned $800,000 for his emotional and occasionally bizarre unanimous decision victory over Diaz, who himself was fighting for the first time in nearly two years. Unbelievably, the win was only Silva’s first since Oct. 2012, while Diaz pulled in $500,000 for his third consecutive defeat.
Aside from the two headliners, only one other fighter hit the six-figure mark in reported earnings.
Top-ranked welterweight Tyron Woodley earned $139,000 for his co-main event win over Kelvin Gastelum, although $9,000 of that number was forfeited from Gastelum’s purse as the result of a badly botched weight cut. In the aftermath of Saturday night’s event, Woodley revealed that he would donate the fined money back to Gastelum.
UFC 183 took place Jan. 31 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Additionally, undercard fighter Thales Leites scored a rarely awarded $100,000 double bonus for his work, while Tim Boetsch and Thiago Alves both scored extra $50,000 fight night checks for their efforts.
As always, the entire UFC 183 payroll can be seen below, although these figures do not represent a fighter’s total earnings, as sponsorship money and discretionary post-fight bonuses are not publicly disclosed.
Main Card (Pay-per-view)
Anderson Silva ($600,000 + $200,000 = $800,000) def. Nick Diaz ($500,000)
Tyron Woodley ($65,000 + $65,000 + $9,000* = $139,000) def. Kelvin Gastelum ($30,000 – $9,000* = $21,000)
Al Iaquinta ($18,000 + $18,000 = $36,000) def. Joe Lauzon ($36,000)
Thales Leites ($24,000 + $24,000 = $48,000) def. Tim Boetsch ($52,000)
Thiago Alves ($42,000 + $42,000 = $84,000) def. Jordan Mein ($22,000)
Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1)
Miesha Tate ($38,000 + $38,000 = $76,000) def. Sara McMann ($25,000)
Derek Brunson ($25,000 + $25,000 = $50,000) def. Ed Herman ($47,000)
John Lineker ($21,000 + $21,000 – *$6,300 = $35,700) def. Ian McCall ($16,000 + *$6,300 = $22,300)
Rafael Natal ($29,000 + $29,000 = $58,000) def. Tom Watson ($16,000)
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Jimy Hettes ($16,000) vs. Diego Brandao ($24,000) cancelled
Ildemar Alcantara ($16,000 + $16,000 = $32,000) def. Richardson Moreira ($8,000)
Thiago Santos ($13,000 + $13,000 = $26,000) def. Andy Enz ($8,000)
* Gastelum and Lineker forfeited 30-percent of their purses for missing weight