Leading into last Thursday’s UFC Live: Sanchez vs Kampmann fight card in Lousville, main eventer Diego Sanchez announced that he had changed his nickname from “The Nightmare” to “The Dream” (side note: since when were we able to choose our own nicknames? When I was a boy, nicknames were assigned to you, not chosen by you. Hence my nickname growing up, “Moonhead”.). It turned out his new moniker was fitting, as Sanchez’s fight versus Martin Kampmann went just like he had dreamed it, although probably minus all of his own blood he had to spill. It also turned into a dream financial windfall for the welterweight, as he went home with $260,000, making him the top earner for the event.
Thursday’s bloodbath of a main event was very fiscally rewarding for both participants, as Dana White was so impressed with their match that he gave them both $160,000 Fight of the Night bonuses, rather than $40,000 as originally planned. Thanks to this, both Sanchez and Kampmann made more on Thursday night than they did all of last year. Before we go any further, we should note that Kentucky’s Athletic Commission doesn’t release fighter pay info, so none of the following salary data for the event is official. However, you can get a fairly accurate picture of a fighter’s pay based on official purse info released from past fights. So, based on that info, here is the estimated pay breakdown for the 22 fighters that traded blows at the event (but please remember – this is only an estimate, not official info, especially for any fighters that made their UFC debuts at the event – for WEC fighters making their UFC debut, on average they are enjoying a 40% pay increase from their WEC salaries, so that is generally what we used to estimate their salaries.).
Diego Sanchez: $270,000 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 win bonus, $160,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Martin Kampmann: $189,000 ($29,000 to show, $160,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Shane Roller: $82,000 ($21,000 to show, $21,000 win bonus, $40,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Brian Bowles: $74,000 ($17,000 to show, $17,000 win bonus, $40,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Mark Munoz: $52,000 ($26,000 to show, $26,000 win bonus)
Joe Stevenson: $47,000
Danny Castillo: $34,000 ($17,000 to show, $17,000 win bonus)
Alessio Sakara: $21,000
Takeya Mizugaki: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus)
Igor Pokrajac: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus)
C.B. Dolloway: $20,000
Thiago Tavares: $19,000
Dongi Yang: $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus)
Chris Weidman: $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 win bonus)
Rousimar Palhares: $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 win bonus)
Damacio Page: $12,000
Cyril Diabate: $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 win bonus)
Steve Cantwell: $10,000
Rob Kimmons: $9,000
Dave Branch: $6,000
Todd Brown: $6,000
Reuben Duran: $4,000
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