Another memorable year in mixed martial arts is in the books, so it’s time for The MMA Manifesto to look back and reflect. Next up: UFC Fighter Salaries.
Was 2012 a good year financially to be a fighter? Well, that depends on what your name is. If it is Jon Jones, then yes, it was a very good year. On the other hand, if you happen to be C.J. Keith, you might want to consider keeping your day job. The average UFC fighter made $81,086 in 2012, down from an average of $92,136 in 2011. A few more stats that you might find interesting:
– 59 fighters (15%) made $10,000 or less, down from 21% in 2011.
– The average household income in the U.S. is around $45,000 per year, yet over half of the UFC’s fighters (53%) made less than the average American in 2012, down slightly from 56% in 2011. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get punched in the face.
– 91 fighters (24%) earned six-figures in 2012.
– 11 men wore UFC championship belts in 2012, and they earned an average of $342,273 over the course of the year (highest – Jon Jones: $865,000; lowest – Renan Barao: $44,000). Most of these fighters also made much more money in undisclosed pay-per-view bonuses.
– The highest earning non-UFC champion in 2012 was Rashad Evans, who pulled in a cool $710,000. The highest earning fighter to have never worn UFC gold was once again Michael Bisping, who was paid $700,000.
– The top paid UFC newcomer was Cuban Hector Lombard, who got $600,000 for his two Octagon appearances (not including his $250,000 bonus for signing with the UFC).
– Despite being dead since 2007, four former Pride fighters were among the top 10 earners in 2012. Pride never die.
Now, for the salary results. 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 fights. Fighters with some estimated purses are marked 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 2012. To check out 2010’s fighter salary info, click here, for 2011 click here, for career fighter earnings click here.
| 1 | Jon Jones* | $ 865,000 |
| 2 | Rashad Evans* | $ 775,000 |
| 3 | Michael Bisping* | $ 700,000 |
| 4 | Hector Lombard* | $ 600,000 |
| 5 | Junior dos Santos | $ 600,000 |
| 6 | Vitor Belfort* | $ 554,000 |
| 7 | Anderson Silva* | $ 475,000 |
| 8 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira* | $ 470,000 |
| 9 | Georges St-Pierre* | $ 470,000 |
| 10 | Mauricio Rua | $ 415,000 |
| 11 | Cain Velasquez | $ 400,000 |
| 12 | Forrest Griffin | $ 350,000 |
| 13 | Cung Le* | $ 340,000 |
| 14 | Tito Ortiz | $ 325,000 |
| 15 | Frankie Edgar* | $ 305,000 |
| 16 | Jim Miller* | $ 303,000 |
| 17 | Jake Shields* | $ 300,000 |
| 18 | Martin Kampmann* | $ 300,000 |
| 19 | Benson Henderson* | $ 299,000 |
| 20 | Rich Franklin* | $ 290,000 |
| 21 | Stefan Struve* | $ 286,000 |
| 22 | Melvin Guillard* | $ 285,600 |
| 23 | Fabricio Werdum* | $ 265,000 |
| 24 | Wanderlei Silva* | $ 265,000 |
| 25 | Joe Lauzon* | $ 264,000 |
| 26 | Takanori Gomi* | $ 260,000 |
| 27 | Demian Maia* | $ 252,000 |
| 28 | Scott Jorgensen | $ 252,000 |
| 29 | Donald Cerrone* | $ 250,200 |
| 30 | Roy Nelson | $ 243,000 |
| 31 | Mike Pyle* | $ 240,000 |
| 32 | Carlos Condit* | $ 237,000 |
| 33 | Jake Ellenberger* | $ 232,000 |
| 34 | Josh Koscheck* | $ 224,000 |
| 35 | Cub Swanson* | $ 221,000 |
| 36 | Lavar Johnson* | $ 220,000 |
| 37 | Cheick Kongo* | $ 210,000 |
| 38 | Thiago Silva* | $ 205,000 |
| 39 | Frank Mir | $ 200,000 |
| 40 | Lyoto Machida | $ 200,000 |
| 41 | Quinton Jackson* | $ 200,000 |
| 42 | Nate Diaz* | $ 197,000 |
| 43 | Jon Fitch* | $ 190,000 |
| 44 | Nick Diaz | $ 185,500 |
| 45 | Ivan Menjivar* | $ 185,000 |
| 46 | Mike Swick | $ 184,000 |
| 47 | Johny Hendricks* | $ 182,000 |
| 48 | Dustin Poirier | $ 177,000 |
| 49 | Demetrious Johnson* | $ 176,000 |
| 50 | Edson Barboza* | $ 172,000 |
| 51 | Dan Hardy* | $ 170,000 |
| 52 | Ben Rothwell | $ 169,000 |
| 53 | Evan Dunham* | $ 169,000 |
| 54 | Matt Brown* | $ 164,000 |
| 55 | Pat Barry* | $ 162,000 |
| 56 | Tim Boetsch* | $ 159,000 |
| 57 | Matt Riddle* | $ 155,000 |
| 58 | Mike Pierce* | $ 154,000 |
| 59 | Yushin Okami* | $ 153,000 |
| 60 | Erick Silva* | $ 152,000 |
| 61 | B.J. Penn | $ 150,000 |
| 62 | Chael Sonnen* | $ 150,000 |
| 63 | Brad Pickett* | $ 145,000 |
| 64 | Ryan Bader* | $ 145,000 |
| 65 | Charles Oliveira* | $ 142,000 |
| 66 | Sam Stout* | $ 142,000 |
| 67 | Stipe Miocic* | $ 141,000 |
| 68 | Antonio Silva* | $ 140,000 |
| 69 | Riki Fukuda* | $ 140,000 |
| 70 | Dong Hyun Kim* | $ 132,000 |
| 71 | Michael Johnson* | $ 126,000 |
| 72 | TJ Grant* | $ 125,000 |
| 73 | Dennis Siver* | $ 124,000 |
| 74 | Joseph Benavidez* | $ 123,000 |
| 75 | Mac Danzig* | $ 121,000 |
| 76 | Phil Davis* | $ 120,000 |
| 77 | Chris Weidman* | $ 118,000 |
| 78 | Jamie Varner | $ 118,000 |
| 79 | Nik Lentz* | $ 116,000 |
| 80 | Rony Mariano Bezerra* | $ 116,000 |
| 81 | Chan-Sung Jung | $ 114,000 |
| 82 | Rafael dos Anjos* | $ 112,000 |
| 83 | Diego Sanchez* | $ 110,000 |
| 84 | Travis Browne | $ 109,000 |
| 85 | Alexander Gustafsson* | $ 106,000 |
| 86 | Costas Philippou* | $ 106,000 |
| 87 | John Moraga | $ 105,000 |
| 88 | Justin Lawrence* | $ 104,000 |
| 89 | TJ Waldburger* | $ 102,000 |
| 90 | Chad Mendes* | $ 100,000 |
| 91 | Joey Beltran* | $ 100,000 |
| 92 | Paul Sass* | $ 100,000 |
| 93 | Mark Hominick* | $ 99,000 |
| 94 | Yves Edwards | $ 97,000 |
| 95 | Dan Miller* | $ 96,000 |
| 96 | Ed Herman* | $ 96,000 |
| 97 | James Te-Huna* | $ 96,000 |
| 98 | Aaron Simpson* | $ 94,000 |
| 99 | Shane Roller* | $ 94,000 |
| 100 | Gleison Tibau* | $ 93,000 |
| 101 | Marcos Vinicius* | $ 93,000 |
| 102 | Rousimar Palhares* | $ 93,000 |
| 103 | Alex Caceres* | $ 92,000 |
| 104 | Dennis Bermudez* | $ 92,000 |
| 105 | John Albert* | $ 91,000 |
| 106 | Eddie Wineland | $ 90,000 |
| 107 | Anthony Pettis* | $ 89,000 |
| 108 | Diego Nunes* | $ 88,000 |
| 109 | Rodrigo Damm* | $ 87,000 |
| 110 | Stephen Thompson | $ 85,000 |
| 111 | Mitch Gagnon* | $ 83,000 |
| 112 | Louis Gaudenot* | $ 82,200 |
| 113 | John Lineker* | $ 81,800 |
| 114 | Bryan Caraway* | $ 81,000 |
| 115 | Todd Duffee | $ 81,000 |
| 116 | Rory MacDonald | $ 78,000 |
| 117 | Tom Lawlor* | $ 78,000 |
| 118 | Eddie Yagin | $ 77,000 |
| 119 | Ian McCall* | $ 77,000 |
| 120 | Ryan Jimmo* | $ 77,000 |
| 121 | Vaughan Lee* | $ 77,000 |
| 122 | Matt Wiman* | $ 76,000 |
| 123 | Spencer Fisher* | $ 76,000 |
| 124 | Alan Belcher* | $ 75,000 |
| 125 | Danny Castillo* | $ 75,000 |
| 126 | Terry Etim* | $ 75,000 |
| 127 | John Maguire* | $ 74,000 |
| 128 | Amir Sadollah* | $ 72,000 |
| 129 | Charlie Brenneman* | $ 72,000 |
| 130 | Raphael Assuncao | $ 72,000 |
| 131 | Ross Pearson* | $ 72,000 |
| 132 | Brandon Vera | $ 70,000 |
| 133 | Brian Stann* | $ 69,000 |
| 134 | Mark Bocek* | $ 69,000 |
| 135 | Igor Pokrajac* | $ 68,000 |
| 136 | Takeya Mizugaki* | $ 68,000 |
| 137 | Glover Teixeira* | $ 66,000 |
| 138 | Jonathan Brookins* | $ 65,000 |
| 139 | Bart Palaszewski* | $ 64,000 |
| 140 | Darren Elkins* | $ 64,000 |
| 141 | Matt Hamill* | $ 64,000 |
| 142 | Dave Herman* | $ 63,000 |
| 143 | Nick Denis* | $ 63,000 |
| 144 | Patrick Cote* | $ 63,000 |
| 145 | Damacio Page* | $ 62,000 |
| 146 | Max Holloway* | $ 62,000 |
| 147 | Philip De Fries* | $ 62,000 |
| 148 | Siyar Bahadurzada* | $ 62,000 |
| 149 | Rick Story* | $ 61,000 |
| 150 | Daniel Pineda* | $ 60,000 |
| 151 | Francis Carmont* | $ 60,000 |
| 152 | Jacob Volkmann* | $ 60,000 |
| 153 | John Dodson | $ 60,000 |
| 154 | Justin Edwards | $ 60,000 |
| 155 | Seth Baczynski* | $ 60,000 |
| 156 | Jared Papazian* | $ 58,000 |
| 157 | Josh Neer* | $ 58,000 |
| 158 | Tim Elliott* | $ 58,000 |
| 159 | Ben Alloway* | $ 56,000 |
| 160 | John Cofer | $ 56,000 |
| 161 | Jose Aldo* | $ 56,000 |
| 162 | Michael Chiesa | $ 56,000 |
| 163 | Chad Griggs* | $ 54,000 |
| 164 | DaMarques Johnson* | $ 54,000 |
| 165 | Duane Ludwig* | $ 54,000 |
| 166 | Mike Easton* | $ 54,000 |
| 167 | Hatsu Hioki* | $ 53,000 |
| 168 | Cody Donovan* | $ 52,000 |
| 169 | Gray Maynard* | $ 52,000 |
| 170 | John Hathaway* | $ 52,000 |
| 171 | Mike Brown | $ 52,000 |
| 172 | Nick Penner* | $ 52,000 |
| 173 | Renan Barao* | $ 52,000 |
| 174 | Chris Leben | $ 51,000 |
| 175 | Christian Morecraft* | $ 51,000 |
| 176 | Urijah Faber* | $ 50,000 |
| 177 | Chris Camozzi* | $ 48,000 |
| 178 | Erik Perez* | $ 48,000 |
| 179 | Jeremy Stephens | $ 48,000 |
| 180 | Diego Brandao* | $ 45,000 |
| 181 | Jason Miller | $ 45,000 |
| 182 | Yoshihiro Akiyama* | $ 45,000 |
| 183 | Sean Pierson* | $ 44,000 |
| 184 | Alessio Sakara* | $ 42,000 |
| 185 | Cole Miller* | $ 42,000 |
| 186 | Mark Munoz | $ 42,000 |
| 187 | Mike Russow* | $ 42,000 |
| 188 | John Makdessi* | $ 41,600 |
| 189 | Ramsey Nijem* | $ 41,200 |
| 190 | Brad Tavares* | $ 40,000 |
| 191 | C.B. Dollaway | $ 40,000 |
| 192 | Carlo Prater* | $ 40,000 |
| 193 | Clay Guida* | $ 40,000 |
| 194 | Khabib Nurmagomedov* | $ 40,000 |
| 195 | Leonard Garcia | $ 40,000 |
| 196 | Sean Pierson* | $ 40,000 |
| 197 | Shane del Rosario | $ 40,000 |
| 198 | Steven Siler* | $ 40,000 |
| 199 | Thiago Alves* | $ 39,000 |
| 200 | Brian Ebersole* | $ 38,000 |
| 201 | Thiago Tavares* | $ 38,000 |
| 202 | James Head* | $ 36,000 |
| 203 | Jorge Rivera* | $ 36,000 |
| 204 | Manny Gamburyan | $ 36,000 |
| 205 | Paulo Thiago* | $ 36,000 |
| 206 | T.J. Dillashaw* | $ 36,000 |
| 207 | Court McGee* | $ 35,000 |
| 208 | Stephan Bonnar* | $ 34,000 |
| 209 | Daron Cruickshank | $ 33,600 |
| 210 | Hugo Viana* | $ 33,600 |
| 211 | Anthony Perosh* | $ 32,000 |
| 212 | Dustin Pague* | $ 32,000 |
| 213 | Marcus Brimage* | $ 32,000 |
| 214 | Miguel Torres | $ 32,000 |
| 215 | Myles Jury | $ 32,000 |
| 216 | Rafael Natal | $ 32,000 |
| 217 | Wagner Prado* | $ 32,000 |
| 218 | Yves Jabouin* | $ 32,000 |
| 219 | Antonio Carvalho* | $ 30,000 |
| 220 | Cody McKenzie | $ 30,000 |
| 221 | Derek Brunson | $ 30,000 |
| 222 | Nam Phan | $ 30,000 |
| 223 | Andrew Craig* | $ 28,000 |
| 224 | Francisco Rivera* | $ 28,000 |
| 225 | Gabriel Gonzaga* | $ 28,000 |
| 226 | Tim Means* | $ 28,000 |
| 227 | Anthony Njokuani | $ 26,400 |
| 228 | Iuri Alcantara* | $ 26,000 |
| 229 | Marcus LeVesseur | $ 26,000 |
| 230 | Henry Martinez | $ 24,400 |
| 231 | Che Mills* | $ 24,000 |
| 232 | Chris Cariaso* | $ 24,000 |
| 233 | Cristiano Marcello* | $ 24,000 |
| 234 | Cyrille Diabate* | $ 24,000 |
| 235 | Fabricio Camoes* | $ 24,000 |
| 236 | Francisco Trinaldo* | $ 24,000 |
| 237 | Joe Proctor | $ 24,000 |
| 238 | Justin Salas* | $ 24,000 |
| 239 | Kyle Kingsbury* | $ 24,000 |
| 240 | Kyle Noke* | $ 24,000 |
| 241 | Nick Ring* | $ 24,000 |
| 242 | Pablo Garza* | $ 24,000 |
| 243 | Rani Yahya | $ 24,000 |
| 244 | Ricardo Lamas* | $ 24,000 |
| 245 | Roland Delorme* | $ 24,000 |
| 246 | Sam Sicilia* | $ 24,000 |
| 247 | Sergio Moraes* | $ 24,000 |
| 248 | Fabio Maldonado* | $ 22,000 |
| 249 | Kamal Shalorus* | $ 22,000 |
| 250 | Michihiro Omigawa* | $ 22,000 |
| 251 | Chris Clements* | $ 20,000 |
| 252 | Felipe Arantes* | $ 20,000 |
| 253 | John Alessio | $ 20,000 |
| 254 | Karlos Vemola* | $ 20,000 |
| 255 | Mark Hunt* | $ 20,000 |
| 256 | Nick Catone* | $ 20,000 |
| 257 | Rafaelo Oliveira | $ 20,000 |
| 258 | Reza Madadi* | $ 20,000 |
| 259 | Robert Peralta* | $ 20,000 |
| 260 | Jason MacDonald | $ 19,000 |
| 261 | Luiz Cane* | $ 19,000 |
| 262 | Oli Thompson* | $ 19,000 |
| 263 | Anton Kuivanen* | $ 18,000 |
| 264 | Buddy Roberts* | $ 18,000 |
| 265 | Jason Young* | $ 18,000 |
| 266 | Michael Kuiper* | $ 18,000 |
| 267 | Shawn Jordan* | $ 18,000 |
| 268 | Simeon Thoresen* | $ 18,000 |
| 269 | Anthony Johnson* | $ 16,000 |
| 270 | Cezar Ferreira* | $ 16,000 |
| 271 | Colton Smith | $ 16,000 |
| 272 | Darren Uyenoyama | $ 16,000 |
| 273 | Edwin Figueroa | $ 16,000 |
| 274 | Jake Hecht* | $ 16,000 |
| 275 | Johnny Bedford | $ 16,000 |
| 276 | Lance Benoist* | $ 16,000 |
| 277 | Michael McDonald | $ 16,000 |
| 278 | Mike Massenzio* | $ 16,000 |
| 279 | Mike Rio | $ 16,000 |
| 280 | Mike Wilkinson* | $ 16,000 |
| 281 | Norman Parke* | $ 16,000 |
| 282 | Robert Whittaker* | $ 16,000 |
| 283 | Ronny Markes* | $ 16,000 |
| 284 | Rustam Khabilov | $ 16,000 |
| 285 | Thiago Perpetuo* | $ 16,000 |
| 286 | Vinny Malgalhaes* | $ 16,000 |
| 287 | George Sotiropoulos* | $ 15,000 |
| 288 | John-Olav Eneimo* | $ 15,000 |
| 289 | Josh Grispi | $ 15,000 |
| 290 | Ken Stone* | $ 15,000 |
| 291 | Norifumi Yamamoto* | $ 15,000 |
| 292 | Tony Ferguson* | $ 15,000 |
| 293 | Brendan Schaub | $ 14,000 |
| 294 | Jeff Hougland* | $ 14,000 |
| 295 | Eric Schafer* | $ 13,000 |
| 296 | Maximo Blanco | $ 13,000 |
| 297 | Abel Trujillo | $ 12,000 |
| 298 | Akira Corassani* | $ 12,000 |
| 299 | Bernardo Malgalhaes* | $ 12,000 |
| 300 | Chico Camos* | $ 12,000 |
| 301 | Daniel Roberts* | $ 12,000 |
| 302 | Dongi Yang | $ 12,000 |
| 303 | Eiji Mitsuoka* | $ 12,000 |
| 304 | Eric Wisely* | $ 12,000 |
| 305 | Gunnar Nelson* | $ 12,000 |
| 306 | Hacran Dias* | $ 12,000 |
| 307 | Issei Tamura* | $ 12,000 |
| 308 | Jared Hamman* | $ 12,000 |
| 309 | Jay Hieron | $ 12,000 |
| 310 | Jimi Manuwa* | $ 12,000 |
| 311 | Joey Gambino* | $ 12,000 |
| 312 | Johnny Eduardo | $ 12,000 |
| 313 | Jon Tuck* | $ 12,000 |
| 314 | Matt Grice | $ 12,000 |
| 315 | Matt Mitrione | $ 12,000 |
| 316 | Pat Schilling* | $ 12,000 |
| 317 | Ricardo Funch* | $ 12,000 |
| 318 | Tom DeBlass* | $ 12,000 |
| 319 | Tom Watson* | $ 12,000 |
| 320 | Tommy Hayden* | $ 12,000 |
| 321 | Walel Watson* | $ 12,000 |
| 322 | Yashuhiro Urishitani* | $ 12,000 |
| 323 | Yoislandy Izquierdo* | $ 12,000 |
| 324 | Zhang Tiequan* | $ 12,000 |
| 325 | Efrain Escudero | $ 10,000 |
| 326 | Jimy Hettes* | $ 10,000 |
| 327 | Keith Wisniewski | $ 10,000 |
| 328 | Steve Cantwell* | $ 10,000 |
| 329 | Yaotzin Meza* | $ 10,000 |
| 330 | Jussier da Silva* | $ 9,000 |
| 331 | Al Iaquinta | $ 8,000 |
| 332 | Anistavio Medeiros* | $ 8,000 |
| 333 | Brad Scott* | $ 8,000 |
| 334 | Brendan Loughnane* | $ 8,000 |
| 335 | Caio Malgalhaes | $ 8,000 |
| 336 | Carlos Eduardo Rocha | $ 8,000 |
| 337 | Chris Cope | $ 8,000 |
| 338 | Chris Saunders | $ 8,000 |
| 339 | Chris Tickle | $ 8,000 |
| 340 | Clifford Starks | $ 8,000 |
| 341 | Colin Fletcher* | $ 8,000 |
| 342 | Delson Heleno* | $ 8,000 |
| 343 | George Roop* | $ 8,000 |
| 344 | Godofrodo ‘Pepey’ Castro* | $ 8,000 |
| 345 | Jeff Curran | $ 8,000 |
| 346 | Jeremy Larsen | $ 8,000 |
| 347 | Leonardo Mafra* | $ 8,000 |
| 348 | Mackens Semerzier* | $ 8,000 |
| 349 | Manuel Rodriguez* | $ 8,000 |
| 350 | Mike Ricci | $ 8,000 |
| 351 | Phil Harris | $ 8,000 |
| 352 | Reuben Duran | $ 8,000 |
| 353 | Stanislav Nedkov* | $ 8,000 |
| 354 | Ulysses Gomez | $ 8,000 |
| 355 | Vinc Pichel | $ 8,000 |
| 356 | Wagner Campos* | $ 8,000 |
| 357 | John Teixera* | $ 6,400 |
| 358 | Aaron Rosa* | $ 6,000 |
| 359 | Alex Soto | $ 6,000 |
| 360 | Andy Ogle* | $ 6,000 |
| 361 | Azamat Gashimov* | $ 6,000 |
| 362 | Besam Yousef* | $ 6,000 |
| 363 | Brock Jardine | $ 6,000 |
| 364 | Byron Bloodworth | $ 6,000 |
| 365 | Dan Stittgen | $ 6,000 |
| 366 | Dustin Jacoby* | $ 6,000 |
| 367 | Ednaldo Oliveira* | $ 6,000 |
| 368 | John Cholish* | $ 6,000 |
| 369 | Jorge Lopez | $ 6,000 |
| 370 | Joseph Sandoval* | $ 6,000 |
| 371 | Luis Ramos* | $ 6,000 |
| 372 | Magnus Cedenblad* | $ 6,000 |
| 373 | Milton Vieira* | $ 6,000 |
| 374 | Mitch Clarke* | $ 6,000 |
| 375 | Motonobu Tezuka* | $ 6,000 |
| 376 | Papy Abedi* | $ 6,000 |
| 377 | Pascal Krauss* | $ 6,000 |
| 378 | Renee Forte* | $ 6,000 |
| 379 | Roger Hollett* | $ 6,000 |
| 380 | Vagner Rocha* | $ 6,000 |
| 381 | C.J. Keith | $ 4,800 |
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