UFC 259 Fighter Salaries & Incentive Pay

He may have lost the 0 in his pro record, but Israel Adesanya was still the top earner at UFC 259.

Before we go any further, we should note that most the  Nevada  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 30 fighters that traded blows at the event.  But please remember – this is only an estimate, not official info.

(click on fighter’s name for career earnings)

Israel Adesanya:  $540,000 ($500,000 to show, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Jan Blachowicz:   $540,000 ($500,000 to show, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Amanda Nunes:  $490,000 ($350,000 to show, $100,000 win bonus, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Aljamain Sterling:   $230,000 ($100,000 to show, $100,000 win bonus, $30,000 fight week incentive pay)

Dominick Cruz:   $195,000 ($90,000 to show, $90,000 win bonus, $15,000 fight week incentive pay)

Megan Anderson:   $155,000 ($125,000 to show, $30,000 fight week incentive pay)

Petr Yan:   $150,000 ($110,000 to show, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Kai Kara-France:   $135,000 ($40,000 to show, $40,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Aleksandar Rakic:   $115,000 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Joseph Benavidez:   $110,000 ($90,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Islam Makhachev:   $105,000 ($50,000 to show, $50,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Thiago Santos:   $100,000 ($80,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Tim Elliott:   $89,000 ($42,000 to show, $42,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Kennedy Nzechukwu:   $77,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Drew Dober:   $76,000 ($61,000 to show, $15,000 fight week incentive pay)

Uros Medic:  $73,500 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Jake Matthews:   $64,000 ($54,000 to show, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Carlos Ulberg:   $63,500 ($10,000 to show, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Song Yadong:   $56,000 ($51,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Casey Kenney:   $50,000 ($45,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Sean Brady:  $48,000 ($22,000 to show, $22,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Amanda Lemos:   $44,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Kyler Phillips:   $43,500 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Askar Askarov:  $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 win bonus, $4,000 fine for missing weight, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Trevin Jones:  $27,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Jordan Espinosa:   $25,000 ($20,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Rogerio Bontorin:   $24,000 ($20,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Livia Renata Souza:   $24,000 ($20,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Mario Bautista:   $24,000 ($20,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Aalon Cruz:  $13,500 ($10,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)