UFC Fighter Salaries
After much number crunching, we are ready to release our 2010 UFC salary database. We've compiled and totaled up the reported salaries for all the 200+ fighters that have stepped into the Octagon in 2010 to determine who the princes and the paupers of the UFC world are.
So you want to be a fighter? Then prepare to make peanuts. While the average UFC fighter has earned around $100000 so far this year, 26 of them have made less than $10000. So, while life is good if your name is Michael Bisping, times are a little tougher if you're Ricardo Funch, who is last on the list with a salary of $5000.
It is worth noting that these are only the reported salaries plus Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses that have been made public. Many top performing fighters get additional bonuses paid out to them that aren't reported, plus the top guys get a cut of the pay-per-view buys for events that they headline (not to mention every fighter makes sponsorship money). Also, many athletic commissions don't report fighter's salary info, so for those we've estimated a fighter's purse based on what they have earned in their other recent fighters. Fighters with some estimated purses are mark with a * in the database. This data should still be considered very close to accurate, as most fighters' purses remain rather steady from fight to fight (unless they ink a new contract in the meantime).
So, without further ado, here's the salary of each UFC fighter for 2010 (updated after UFC 122):
Top 10 UFC Fighter Salaries
| 1 | Michael Bisping* | $ 885,000 |
| 2 | Brock Lesnar | $ 875,000 |
| 3 | Rashad Evans | $ 785,000 |
| 4 | Anderson Silva * | $ 520,000 |
| 5 | Chuck Liddell | $ 500,000 |
| 5 | James Toney | $ 500,000 |
| 5 | Randy Couture | $ 500,000 |
| 8 | Matt Hughes* | $ 460,000 |
| 8 | Mirko Cro Cop* | $ 460,000 |
| 10 | Georges St-Pierre * | $ 400,000 |
| 10 | Wanderlei Silva* | $ 400,000 |
Fighter Salaries Ranked Alphabetically by First Name
| Total | |
| Aaron Riley | $ 20,000 |
| Aaron Simpson | $ 65,000 |
| Alan Belcher * | $ 103,000 |
| Alessio Sakara | $ 42,000 |
| Alexandre Ferreira* | $ 8,000 |
| Alesander Gustafsson* | $ 18,000 |
| Amilcar Alves | $ 6,000 |
| Amir Sadollah* | $ 75,000 |
| Anderson Silva * | $ 520,000 |
| Andre Winner * | $ 40,000 |
| Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira * | $ 250,000 |
| Antonio Rogerio Nogueira* | $ 245,000 |
| Anthony Perosh* | $ 6,000 |
| B.J. Penn * | $ 300,000 |
| Ben Rothwell | $ 100,000 |
| Ben Saunders * | $ 24,000 |
| Brad Blackburn * | $ 26,000 |
| Brad Tavares | $ 16,000 |
| Brandon Vera | $ 60,000 |
| Brendan Schaub | $ 60,000 |
| Brian Foster * | $ 58,000 |
| Brian Stann | $ 91,000 |
| Brock Lesnar | $ 875,000 |
| C.B. Dollaway * | $ 106,000 |
| Cain Velasquez * | $ 390,000 |
| Caol Uno * | $ 40,000 |
| Carlos Condit* | $ 249,000 |
| Carlos Eduardo Rocha* | $ 8,000 |
| Carlos Vemola* | $ 84,000 |
| Chael Sonnen | $ 219,000 |
| Charles Oliveira* | $ 104,000 |
| Charlie Brenneman* | $ 24,000 |
| Chase Gormley | $ 10,000 |
| Cheick Kongo* | $ 165,000 |
| Chris Camozzi | $ 32,000 |
| Chris Leben | $ 316,000 |
| Chris Lytle * | $ 206,000 |
| Chris Tuchscherer | $ 32,000 |
| Christian Morecraft | $ 6,000 |
| Chuck Liddell | $ 500,000 |
| Claude Patrick* | $ 24,000 |
| Clay Guida | $ 156,000 |
| Cole Miller* | $ 138,000 |
| Court McGee | $ 71,000 |
| Cyrille Diabate* | $ 18,000 |
| DaMarques Johnson * | $ 105,000 |
| Dan Lauzon | $ 30,000 |
| Dan Miller | $ 60,000 |
| Daniel Roberts | $ 104,000 |
| Darren Elkins | $ 20,000 |
| Dave Branch* | $ 18,000 |
| David Loiseau | $ 12,000 |
| Demian Maia * | $ 164,000 |
| Dennis Hallman | $ 30,000 |
| Dennis Siver * | $ 175,000 |
| Diego Sanchez | $ 220,000 |
| Dong Hyun Kim | $ 64,000 |
| Dong Yi Yang | $ 8,000 |
| Duane Ludwig* | $ 48,000 |
| Dustin Hazelett | $ 37,800 |
| Efrain Escudero | $ 60,000 |
| Elliot Marshall | $ 10,000 |
| Eric Shaefer | $ 13,000 |
| Evan Dunham* | $ 157,000 |
| Fabricio Camoes * | $ 10,000 |
| Forrest Petz* | $ 12,000 |
| Frank Mir * | $ 135,000 |
| Frank Trigg | $ 30,000 |
| Frankie Edgar * | $ 192,000 |
| Gabe Ruediger | $ 8,000 |
| Gabriel Gonzaga | $ 134,000 |
| George Sotiropoulos * | $ 98,000 |
| Georges St-Pierre * | $ 400,000 |
| Gerald Harris * | $ 157,000 |
| Gilbert Yvel | $ 90,000 |
| Gleison Tibau * | $ 57,000 |
| Goran Reljic * | $ 15,000 |
| Gray Maynard | $ 86,000 |
| Greg Soto | $ 12,000 |
| Igor Pokrajac* | $ 18,000 |
| Jacob Volkmann * | $ 38,000 |
| Jake Ellenberger | $ 44,000 |
| Jake Shields | $ 150,000 |
| James Hammortree | $ 8,000 |
| James Irvin | $ 40,000 |
| James McSweeney* | $ 16,000 |
| James Te-Huna* | $ 12,000 |
| James Toney | $ 500,000 |
| James Wilks* | $ 45,000 |
| Jamie Yager | $ 8,000 |
| Jared Hamman* | $ 105,000 |
| Jason Brilz | $ 94,000 |
| Jason MacDonald * | $ 26,000 |
| Jay Silva | $ 6,000 |
| Jeremy Stephens * | $ 95,000 |
| Jesse Forbes | $ 12,000 |
| Jesse Lennox | $ 14,000 |
| Jim Miller* | $ 90,000 |
| Joe Brammer | $ 5,000 |
| Joe Lauzon | $ 146,000 |
| Joe Stevenson * | $ 97,000 |
| Joey Beltran * | $ 100,000 |
| John Gunderson* | $ 29,000 |
| John Hathaway* | $ 33,000 |
| John Howard | $ 91,000 |
| John Salter * | $ 30,000 |
| Johny Hendricks* | $ 80,000 |
| Jon Fitch * | $ 228,000 |
| Jon Jones | $ 136,000 |
| Jon Madsen * | $ 48,000 |
| Jorge Rivera * | $ 36,000 |
| Josh Bryant | $ 8,000 |
| Josh Koscheck * | $ 106,000 |
| Julio Paulino* | $ 12,000 |
| Junior dos Santos | $ 260,000 |
| Justin Bucholz | $ 8,000 |
| Keith Jardine * | $ 135,000 |
| Kendall Grove * | $ 150,000 |
| Kenny Florian * | $ 225,000 |
| Kimbo Slice * | $ 25,000 |
| Kris McCray* | $ 16,000 |
| Krzysztof Soszynski * | $ 125,000 |
| Kurt Pellegrino * | $ 140,000 |
| Kyle Bradley | $ 8,000 |
| Kyle Kingsbury* | $ 56,000 |
| Kyle Noke* | $ 32,000 |
| Luiz Cane | $ 19,000 |
| Lyoto Machida | $ 200,000 |
| Mac Danzig | $ 64,000 |
| Marcus Davis | $ 145,000 |
| Mario Miranda | $ 26,000 |
| Mark Bocek* | $ 15,000 |
| Mark Coleman | $ 60,000 |
| Mark Holst* | $ 12,000 |
| Mark Munoz* | $ 161,000 |
| Martin Kampmann | $ 123,000 |
| Mark Scanlon* | $ 68,000 |
| Matt Brown* | $ 20,000 |
| Matt Hamill | $ 135,000 |
| Matt Hughes* | $ 460,000 |
| Matt Mitrione* | $ 102,000 |
| Matt Serra* | $ 300,000 |
| Matt Veach* | $ 5,000 |
| Matt Wiman | $ 28,000 |
| Matthew Riddle | $ 40,000 |
| Mauricio Rua | $ 315,000 |
| Melvin Guillard* | $ 104,000 |
| Michael Bisping* | $ 885,000 |
| Mike Guymon | $ 26,000 |
| Mike Massenzio | $ 45,000 |
| Mike Pierce | $ 40,000 |
| Mike Pyle* | $ 93,000 |
| Mike Russow | $ 89,000 |
| Mike Swick | $ 43,000 |
| Mirko Cro Cop* | $ 460,000 |
| Mustafa Al Turk* | $ 7,000 |
| Nate Diaz* | $ 192,000 |
| Nate Marquardt* | $ 240,000 |
| Nate Quarry* | $ 30,000 |
| Nick Catone | $ 14,000 |
| Nick Osipczak* | $ 30,000 |
| Nik Lentz* | $ 51,000 |
| Pascal Krauss* | $ 76,000 |
| Pat Barry | $ 11,000 |
| Patrick Cote* | $ 42,000 |
| Paul Buentello | $ 40,000 |
| Paul Daley* | $ 102,200 |
| Paul Kelly* | $ 51,000 |
| Paul Sass* | $ 72,000 |
| Paul Taylor | $ 16,000 |
| Paulo Thiago | $ 196,000 |
| Peter Sobotta* | $ 8,000 |
| Phil Davis* | $ 38,000 |
| Phillipe Nover | $ 10,000 |
| Rafael dos Anjos* | $ 119,000 |
| Rafaello Oliveira* | $ 30,000 |
| Rampage Jackson | $ 250,000 |
| Randy Couture | $ 500,000 |
| Rashad Evans | $ 785,000 |
| Ricardo Almeida* | $ 105,000 |
| Ricardo Funch | $ 5,000 |
| Ricardo Romero | $ 16,000 |
| Rich Antonito | $ 32,000 |
| Rich Franklin | $ 225,000 |
| Rick Story* | $ 42,000 |
| Rob Emerson* | $ 36,000 |
| Rob Kimmons* | $ 27,000 |
| Rodney Wallace* | $ 77,000 |
| Rolles Gracie | $ 15,000 |
| Ronys Torres* | $ 8,000 |
| Rory MacDonald | $ 105,000 |
| Rory Markham* | $ 6,000 |
| Ross Pearson* | $ 54,000 |
| Rousimar Palhares* | $ 21,000 |
| Roy Nelson* | $ 75,000 |
| Ryan Bader* | $ 60,000 |
| Ryan Jensen | $ 97,000 |
| Sam Stout* | $ 183,000 |
| Sean Sherk* | $ 150,000 |
| Seth Baczynski | $ 8,000 |
| Seth Petruzelli* | $ 20,000 |
| Shane Carwin* | $ 185,000 |
| Shannon Gugerty | $ 9,000 |
| Spencer Fisher* | $ 78,000 |
| Stefan Struve* | $ 105,000 |
| Stephan Bonner* | $ 150,000 |
| Steve Steinbeiss | $ 6,000 |
| Takanori Gomi* | $ 160,000 |
| Terry Etim* | $ 10,000 |
| Thiago Alves | $ 48,000 |
| Thiago Silva | $ 55,000 |
| Thiago Tavares* | $ 45,000 |
| Tim Boetsch | $ 32,000 |
| Tim Hague* | $ 14,000 |
| Tito Ortiz | $ 250,000 |
| TJ Grant* | $ 15,000 |
| Todd Brown | $ 6,000 |
| Todd Duffee | $ 8,000 |
| Tom Lawlor* | $ 70,000 |
| Tomasz Drwal* | $ 17,200 |
| Travis Browne* | $ 18,000 |
| Tyson Griffin | $ 58,000 |
| Vladimir Matyushenko* | $ 149,000 |
| Wanderlei Silva* | $ 400,000 |
| Waylon Lowe* | $ 18,000 |
| Yoshihiro Akiyama* | $ 225,000 |
| Yoshiyuki Yoshida* | $ 8,000 |
| Yushin Okami* | $ 128,000 |
| Yves Edwards* | $ 16,000 |
| Total | $23,007,200 |
| Average | $ 100,468 |
