The year of the featherweights continued on Saturday afternoon, as veterans Clay Guida and Chad Mendes led the weekend’s salary report following their respective wins at UFC Fight Night 63, according to information released to MMAFighting.com by the Virginia Department of Professional & Occupational Regulation.
Guida was the card’s top earner, pocketing $100,000 for his unanimous decision victory over Robbie Peralta. The win marked Guida’s twelfth in the UFC and aired live on the FOX Sports 1 main card. Featherweight headliner Chad Mendes came in a close second behind him, securing a $96,000 payday for a first-round knockout over Ricardo Lamas which closed the show.
Aside from those two, lightweight co-headliner Jorge Masvidal was the only other fighter to clear more than $50,000 in salary earnings for his performance at UFC Fight Night 63. Masvidal took away $51,000 in a losing effort, having dropped a controversial split decision to Al Iaqunita. Iaqunita, meanwhile, pocketed $46,000 with the win.
UFC Fight Night 63 took place April 4 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. In addition to their reported salaries, Mendes, Julianna Pena, Dustin Poirier, and Timothy Johnson all grabbed additional $50,000 ‘Fight Night’ bonuses for their work.
A complete list of the UFC Fight Night 63 salaries can be seen below. As always, these figures do not represent a fighter’s total earnings, as sponsorship money, pay-per-view income, and discretionary post-fight bonuses are not publicly disclosed.
Main Card (FOX Sports 1)
Chad Mendes ($48,000 + $48,000 = $96,000) def. Ricardo Lamas ($35,000)
Al Iaquinta ($23,000 + $23,000 = $46,000) def. Jorge Masvidal ($51,000)
Michael Chiesa ($24,000 + $24,000 = $48,000) def. Mitch Clarke ($12,000)
Julianna Pena ($15,000 + $15,000 = $30,000) def. Milana Dudieva ($10,000)
Clay Guida ($50,000 + $50,000 = $100,000) def. Robbie Peralta ($18,000)
Dustin Poirier ($34,000 + $34,000 = $68,000) def. Diego Ferreira ($15,000)
Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1)
Liz Carmouche ($17,000 + $17,000 = $34,000) def. Lauren Murphy ($8,000)
Alexander Yakovlev ($8,000 + $8,000 = $16,000) def. Gray Maynard ($48,000)
Timothy Johnson ($8,000 + $8,000 = $16,000) def. Shamil Abdurakhimov ($12,000)
Ronald Stallings ($10,000 + $10,000 = $20,000) def. Justin Jones ($8,000)