Mark Hunt might have gotten grounded out last night by Curtis Blaydes, but he was still the top earner at UFC 221.
Before we go any further, we should note that most international athletic commissions don’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 24 fighters that traded blows at the event. But please remember – this is only an estimate, not official info.
Attendance: 12,437
Gate: $2,810,520 (U.S.)
Mark Hunt: $765,000 ($750,000 to show, $15,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Luke Rockhold: $485,000 ($350,000 to show, $105,000 from Romero for missing weight, $30,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Yoel Romero: $255,000 ($350,000 to show, $105,000 fine for missing weight, $10,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Israel Adesanya: $153,500 ($50,000 to show, $50,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, $3,500 Reebok sponsorship)
Ross Pearson: $128,000 ($54,000 to show, $54,000 win bonus, $20,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Li Jingliang: $113,000 ($58,000 to show, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Jake Matthews: $103,000 ($24,000 to show, $24,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Jussier Formiga: $102,000 ($21,000 to show, $21,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, $10,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Curtis Blaydes: $51,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 win bonus, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Teruto Ishihara: $51,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 win bonus, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Alexander Volkanovski: $36,000 ($16,000 to show, $16,000 win bonus, $4,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Tyson Pedro: $32,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 win bonus, $4,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Dong Hyun Kim: $33,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 win bonus, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Tai Tuivasa: $27,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $3,500 Reebok sponsorship)
Luke Jumeau: $27,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $3,500 Reebok sponsorship)
Mizuto Hirota: $24,000 ($19,000 to show, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Ben Nguyen: $23,000 ($18,000 to show, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Jose Alberto Quinonez: $20,000 ($16,000 to show, $4,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Cyril Asker: $19,000 ($14,000 to show, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Damien Brown: $19,000 ($14,000 to show, $5,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Jeremy Kennedy: $18,000 ($14,000 to show, $4,000 Reebok sponsorship)
Daichi Abe: $15,500 ($12,000 to show, $3,500 Reebok sponsorship)
Saparbek Safarov: $13,500 ($10,000 to show, $3,500 Reebok sponsorship)
Rob Wilkinson: $13,500 ($10,000 to show, $3,500 Reebok sponsorship)
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