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 2011 a good year financially to be a fighter? Well, that depends on what your name is. If it is Tito Ortiz, then yes, it was a very good year. On the other hand, if you happen to be Byron Bloodworth, you might want to consider keeping your day job. While the average UFC fighter made $92,136 in 2011, 71 fighters (21%) made $10,000 or less. A few more stats that you might find interesting:
– While Tito Ortiz tops the list for 2011, he probably ended up making less in 2011 than in 2010. His new UFC contract doesn’t give him a cut of the pay-per-view revenue like his previous contracts did.
– The average household income in the U.S. is around $45,000 per year, yet over half of the UFC’s fighters (56%) made less than the average American in 2011. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get punched in the face.
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 2011. To check out 2010’s fighter salary info, click here.
| 1 | Tito Ortiz* | $1,495,000 |
| 2 | Michael Bisping* | $ 810,000 |
| 3 | Jon Jones* | $ 785,000 |
| 4 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira* | $ 750,000 |
| 5 | Frank Mir* | $ 645,000 |
| 6 | Mauricio Rua* | $ 625,000 |
| 7 | Vitor Belfort* | $ 620,000 |
| 8 | Lyoto Machida* | $ 604,000 |
| 9 | Rampage Jackson* | $ 575,000 |
| 10 | Rashad Evans* | $ 515,000 |
| 11 | Donald Cerrone | $ 494,000 |
| 12 | Junior dos Santos | $ 485,000 |
| 13 | Anderson Silva* | $ 475,000 |
| 14 | Wanderlei Silva | $ 470,000 |
| 15 | Cung Le | $ 420,000 |
| 16 | Brock Lesnar | $ 400,000 |
| 17 | Forrest Griffin* | $ 400,000 |
| 18 | Georges St-Pierre* | $ 400,000 |
| 19 | Alistair Overeem | $ 385,714 |
| 20 | B.J. Penn* | $ 375,000 |
| 21 | Nate Diaz* | $ 356,000 |
| 22 | Frankie Edgar* | $ 345,000 |
| 23 | Cheick Kongo* | $ 330,000 |
| 24 | Dan Henderson | $ 320,000 |
| 25 | Chris Lytle* | $ 310,000 |
| 26 | Clay Guida | $ 301,000 |
| 27 | Urijah Faber* | $ 301,000 |
| 28 | Nick Diaz | $ 275,000 |
| 29 | Diego Sanchez* | $ 270,000 |
| 30 | Johny Hendricks* | $ 270,000 |
| 31 | Randy Couture* | $ 250,000 |
| 32 | Martin Kampmann* | $ 247,000 |
| 33 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira* | $ 230,000 |
| 34 | Jose Aldo* | $ 229,000 |
| 35 | Gleison Tibau* | $ 224,000 |
| 36 | Josh Koscheck* | $ 209,000 |
| 37 | Edson Barboza* | $ 206,000 |
| 38 | Ross Pearson* | $ 200,000 |
| 39 | Joe Lauzon* | $ 197,000 |
| 40 | Kenny Florian* | $ 195,000 |
| 41 | Ben Henderson* | $ 193,000 |
| 42 | Dong Hyun Kim | $ 193,000 |
| 43 | Melvin Guillard* | $ 190,000 |
| 44 | Chris Leben* | $ 184,000 |
| 45 | Mark Munoz* | $ 184,000 |
| 46 | Brian Ebersole* | $ 181,000 |
| 47 | Brian Stann* | $ 181,000 |
| 48 | Brandon Vera | $ 180,000 |
| 49 | Jake Ellenberger* | $ 175,000 |
| 50 | Michael McDonald | $ 161,000 |
| 51 | Jeremy Stephens* | $ 160,000 |
| 52 | Dominick Cruz* | $ 155,000 |
| 53 | Matt Wiman* | $ 155,000 |
| 54 | Mark Hominick* | $ 151,000 |
| 55 | Chan Sung Jung* | $ 150,000 |
| 56 | Jake Shields* | $ 150,000 |
| 57 | Mirko Cro Cop* | $ 150,000 |
| 58 | Miguel Torres | $ 146,800 |
| 59 | Anthony Johnson* | $ 145,000 |
| 60 | Pablo Garza* | $ 145,000 |
| 61 | Carlos Condit | $ 143,000 |
| 62 | Gray Maynard* | $ 138,000 |
| 63 | Chris Weidman* | $ 130,000 |
| 64 | Demian Maia* | $ 129,000 |
| 65 | Stefan Struve* | $ 128,000 |
| 66 | Brian Bowles* | $ 127,000 |
| 67 | Danny Castillo* | $ 124,600 |
| 68 | Shane Roller* | $ 124,000 |
| 69 | Jon Fitch* | $ 120,000 |
| 70 | Tony Ferguson* | $ 116,000 |
| 71 | Dan Hardy* | $ 115,000 |
| 72 | Nam Phan* | $ 115,000 |
| 73 | Nik Lentz* | $ 114,000 |
| 74 | Yves Edwards* | $ 112,000 |
| 75 | Leonard Garcia* | $ 111,000 |
| 76 | Thiago Silva | $ 110,000 |
| 77 | Sam Stout | $ 108,000 |
| 78 | Anthony Njokuani* | $ 106,000 |
| 79 | Dave Herman | $ 106,000 |
| 80 | Travis Browne* | $ 106,000 |
| 81 | Bart Palaszewski | $ 103,500 |
| 82 | Mark Hunt* | $ 103,000 |
| 83 | Vladimir Matyushenko | $ 102,000 |
| 84 | Ricardo Lamas* | $ 101,000 |
| 85 | Brendan Schaub* | $ 100,000 |
| 86 | Cain Velasquez | $ 100,000 |
| 87 | Ed Herman | $ 100,000 |
| 88 | Matt Hughes* | $ 100,000 |
| 89 | Takanori Gomi* | $ 100,000 |
| 90 | Dennis Siver* | $ 99,000 |
| 91 | Kyle Noke* | $ 99,000 |
| 92 | Thiago Alves* | $ 99,000 |
| 93 | Aaron Simpson* | $ 98,000 |
| 94 | Jim Miller* | $ 97,000 |
| 95 | Diego Brandao | $ 96,000 |
| 96 | Renan Barao* | $ 96,000 |
| 97 | Erik Koch* | $ 94,000 |
| 98 | Joe Stevenson* | $ 94,000 |
| 99 | Paul Kelly | $ 94,000 |
| 100 | Tyson Griffin* | $ 93,500 |
| 101 | Mike Brown* | $ 92,000 |
| 102 | Kyle Kingsbury | $ 90,000 |
| 103 | Nate Marquardt* | $ 90,000 |
| 104 | Terry Etim* | $ 90,000 |
| 105 | Ryan Bader | $ 88,000 |
| 106 | Jon Olav Einemo | $ 85,000 |
| 107 | Jacob Volkmann* | $ 84,000 |
| 108 | Charles Oliveira* | $ 82,000 |
| 109 | Joseph Benavidez* | $ 82,000 |
| 110 | Mike Pierce* | $ 82,000 |
| 111 | Tim Boetsch* | $ 82,000 |
| 112 | TJ Waldburger* | $ 79,000 |
| 113 | Che Mills* | $ 78,000 |
| 114 | Jason MacDonald* | $ 78,000 |
| 115 | Alexander Gustafsson* | $ 76,000 |
| 116 | Brad Pickett* | $ 76,000 |
| 117 | Rich Franklin | $ 75,000 |
| 118 | Mike Pyle* | $ 74,000 |
| 119 | Edwin Figueroa* | $ 73,000 |
| 120 | Jorge Santiago* | $ 72,000 |
| 121 | Rick Story* | $ 72,000 |
| 122 | Chael Sonnen* | $ 70,000 |
| 123 | DaMarques Johnson* | $ 70,000 |
| 124 | Stephan Bonnar | $ 68,000 |
| 125 | Matt Riddle* | $ 67,000 |
| 126 | Matt Hamill* | $ 64,000 |
| 127 | Lance Benoist* | $ 63,000 |
| 128 | Scott Jorgensen | $ 62,000 |
| 129 | Amir Sadollah | $ 60,000 |
| 130 | Reuben Duran* | $ 58,000 |
| 131 | Luiz Cane* | $ 57,000 |
| 132 | Diego Nunes | $ 56,000 |
| 133 | John Dodson | $ 56,000 |
| 134 | Takeya Mizugaki* | $ 56,000 |
| 135 | Roy Nelson | $ 55,000 |
| 136 | Raphael Assuncao* | $ 54,000 |
| 137 | Ben Rothwell* | $ 52,000 |
| 138 | Spencer Fisher* | $ 52,000 |
| 139 | Cole Miller* | $ 51,000 |
| 140 | Thiago Tavares* | $ 51,000 |
| 141 | Fabio Maldonado | $ 50,000 |
| 142 | Matt Mitrione* | $ 50,000 |
| 143 | Daniel Roberts* | $ 48,000 |
| 144 | Dennis Bermudez | $ 48,000 |
| 145 | Joey Beltran* | $ 48,000 |
| 146 | Cody McKenzie* | $ 46,000 |
| 147 | Dan Miller* | $ 46,000 |
| 148 | Chad Mendes* | $ 45,000 |
| 149 | Dennis Hallman* | $ 45,000 |
| 150 | Jason Miller | $ 45,000 |
| 151 | Mark Bocek* | $ 45,000 |
| 152 | Yoshihiro Akiyama* | $ 45,000 |
| 153 | Pat Barry* | $ 44,000 |
| 154 | Rafael dos Anjos | $ 44,000 |
| 155 | Demetrious Johnson* | $ 42,000 |
| 156 | Rory MacDonald* | $ 42,000 |
| 157 | C.B. Dolloway* | $ 40,000 |
| 158 | Charlie Brenneman* | $ 40,000 |
| 159 | Igor Pokrajac* | $ 40,000 |
| 160 | Michihiro Omigawa* | $ 40,000 |
| 161 | Nick Ring* | $ 40,000 |
| 162 | Shane Carwin* | $ 40,000 |
| 163 | Evan Dunham* | $ 39,000 |
| 164 | Allen Belcher* | $ 38,000 |
| 165 | Darren Elkins* | $ 38,000 |
| 166 | Dustin Poirier | $ 38,000 |
| 167 | Jared Hamman* | $ 36,000 |
| 168 | Jorge Rivera* | $ 36,000 |
| 169 | Krzysztof Soszynski* | $ 36,000 |
| 170 | Manny Gamburyan* | $ 36,000 |
| 171 | Paul Taylor | $ 36,000 |
| 172 | Paulo Thiago* | $ 36,000 |
| 173 | Waylon Lowe* | $ 36,000 |
| 174 | Ricardo Almeida* | $ 35,000 |
| 175 | Phil Davis | $ 34,000 |
| 176 | Costas Philippou* | $ 33,000 |
| 177 | Alex Caceres* | $ 32,000 |
| 178 | Clay Harvison* | $ 32,000 |
| 179 | Duane Ludwig | $ 32,000 |
| 180 | John Makdessi* | $ 32,000 |
| 181 | Justin Edwards* | $ 32,000 |
| 182 | Matt Brown* | $ 32,000 |
| 183 | Seth Baczynski* | $ 32,000 |
| 184 | Yves Jabouin* | $ 32,000 |
| 185 | Marcus Davis | $ 31,000 |
| 186 | Shamar Bailey* | $ 30,400 |
| 187 | Anthony Pettis* | $ 30,000 |
| 188 | Court McGee* | $ 30,000 |
| 189 | George Sotiropoulos* | $ 30,000 |
| 190 | Hatsu Hioki | $ 30,000 |
| 191 | Josh Grispi | $ 30,000 |
| 192 | Norifumi Yamamoto | $ 30,000 |
| 193 | Rani Yahya* | $ 30,000 |
| 194 | Anthony Perosh* | $ 28,000 |
| 195 | Jimy Hettes | $ 28,000 |
| 196 | Josh Neer* | $ 28,000 |
| 197 | Mike Russow | $ 28,000 |
| 198 | Ramsey Nijem | $ 28,000 |
| 199 | Rousimar Palhares* | $ 28,000 |
| 200 | Brad Tavares | $ 26,000 |
| 201 | George Roop* | $ 26,000 |
| 202 | Jason Brilz* | $ 26,000 |
| 203 | Javier Vazquez* | $ 26,000 |
| 204 | John Hathaway | $ 26,000 |
| 205 | Kendall Grove | $ 26,000 |
| 206 | Michael Johnson* | $ 26,000 |
| 207 | Eliot Marshall* | $ 25,000 |
| 208 | Kurt Pellegrino* | $ 25,000 |
| 209 | Phil Baroni | $ 25,000 |
| 210 | Dongyi Yang* | $ 24,000 |
| 211 | Junior Assuncao* | $ 24,000 |
| 212 | Mike Massenzio* | $ 24,000 |
| 213 | Rich Attonito* | $ 24,000 |
| 214 | Robert Peralta* | $ 24,000 |
| 215 | Yusin Okami* | $ 23,000 |
| 216 | Alessio Sakara* | $ 21,000 |
| 217 | Chris Cariaso* | $ 20,000 |
| 218 | Eddie Wineland* | $ 20,000 |
| 219 | Ivan Menjivar* | $ 20,000 |
| 220 | Mackens Semerzier | $ 20,000 |
| 221 | Ricardo Romero* | $ 20,000 |
| 222 | Steve Cantwell* | $ 20,000 |
| 223 | Aaron Rosa | $ 18,000 |
| 224 | Christian Morecraft* | $ 18,000 |
| 225 | Claude Patrick* | $ 18,000 |
| 226 | Cole Escovedo* | $ 18,000 |
| 227 | Curt Warburton* | $ 18,000 |
| 228 | Cyrille Diabate* | $ 18,000 |
| 229 | James Te-Huna* | $ 18,000 |
| 230 | Vagner Rocha* | $ 18,000 |
| 231 | Bryan Caraway | $ 16,000 |
| 232 | Chris Camozzi* | $ 16,000 |
| 233 | Chris Cope | $ 16,000 |
| 234 | John Albert | $ 16,000 |
| 235 | Johnny Bedford | $ 16,000 |
| 236 | Marcus Brimage | $ 16,000 |
| 237 | Paul Bradley* | $ 16,000 |
| 238 | Roland Delorme | $ 16,000 |
| 239 | Ronny Markes | $ 16,000 |
| 240 | Sean Pierson* | $ 16,000 |
| 241 | Steven Silver | $ 16,000 |
| 242 | Antonio McKee | $ 15,000 |
| 243 | Cub Swanson | $ 15,000 |
| 244 | John Howard* | $ 15,000 |
| 245 | Jonathan Brookins* | $ 15,000 |
| 246 | Ken Stone* | $ 15,000 |
| 247 | Andre Winner | $ 14,000 |
| 248 | Nick Catone* | $ 14,000 |
| 249 | Eric Schafer* | $ 13,000 |
| 250 | Chris Tuchsherer* | $ 12,000 |
| 251 | Clifford Starks | $ 12,000 |
| 252 | Damacio Page* | $ 12,000 |
| 253 | Darren Uyenoyama | $ 12,000 |
| 254 | Donny Walker* | $ 12,000 |
| 255 | Erick Silva* | $ 12,000 |
| 256 | Francis Carmont | $ 12,000 |
| 257 | Iuri Alcanatra* | $ 12,000 |
| 258 | Jason Young* | $ 12,000 |
| 259 | Jeff Hougland | $ 12,000 |
| 260 | Paul Sass* | $ 12,000 |
| 261 | Rafael Natal* | $ 12,000 |
| 262 | Rob Broughton* | $ 12,000 |
| 263 | Stanislov Nedkov* | $ 12,000 |
| 264 | Tom Lawlor | $ 12,000 |
| 265 | Walel Watson* | $ 12,000 |
| 266 | Zhang Tie Quan* | $ 12,000 |
| 267 | Ian Loveland* | $ 11,000 |
| 268 | Aaron Riley* | $ 10,000 |
| 269 | Charlie Valencia* | $ 10,000 |
| 270 | Efrain Escudero | $ 10,000 |
| 271 | Jason Reinhart* | $ 10,000 |
| 272 | Jon Madsen | $ 10,000 |
| 273 | Karlos Vemola* | $ 10,000 |
| 274 | Kris McCray | $ 10,000 |
| 275 | Mario Miranda | $ 10,000 |
| 276 | Rafaello Oliveira | $ 10,000 |
| 277 | Ryan Jensen* | $ 10,000 |
| 278 | Sean McCorkle | $ 10,000 |
| 279 | Tim Credeur | $ 10,000 |
| 280 | TJ Grant* | $ 10,000 |
| 281 | Antonio Banuelos | $ 9,000 |
| 282 | Rob Kimmons* | $ 9,000 |
| 283 | Mike Easton* | $ 8,800 |
| 284 | Carlos Eduardo Rocha | $ 8,000 |
| 285 | Chuck O’Neil | $ 8,000 |
| 286 | Danny Downes | $ 8,000 |
| 287 | Dustin Neace | $ 8,000 |
| 288 | Dustin Pague | $ 8,000 |
| 289 | Edward Faaloloto* | $ 8,000 |
| 290 | Greg Soto | $ 8,000 |
| 291 | Jake Hecht* | $ 8,000 |
| 292 | Jeff Curran | $ 8,000 |
| 293 | John Cholish* | $ 8,000 |
| 294 | John Maguire* | $ 8,000 |
| 295 | Josh Ferguson | $ 8,000 |
| 296 | Kyle Watson* | $ 8,000 |
| 297 | Louis Gaudinot | $ 8,000 |
| 298 | Mike Guymon* | $ 8,000 |
| 299 | Philip De Fries* | $ 8,000 |
| 300 | Ryan McGillivray | $ 8,000 |
| 301 | Stephen Bass | $ 8,000 |
| 302 | Stipe Miocic* | $ 8,000 |
| 303 | T.J. Dillashaw | $ 8,000 |
| 304 | Nick Pace* | $ 7,200 |
| 305 | Kamal Shalorus* | $ 7,000 |
| 306 | Matt Grice* | $ 7,000 |
| 307 | Tim Hague* | $ 7,000 |
| 308 | Alex Soto | $ 6,000 |
| 309 | Amilcar Alves* | $ 6,000 |
| 310 | Dave Branch* | $ 6,000 |
| 311 | David Mitchell* | $ 6,000 |
| 312 | Dustin Jacoby | $ 6,000 |
| 313 | Felipe Arantes* | $ 6,000 |
| 314 | James Head | $ 6,000 |
| 315 | Jesse Bongfelt | $ 6,000 |
| 316 | Johny Eduardo* | $ 6,000 |
| 317 | Josh Clopton | $ 6,000 |
| 318 | Kenny Robertson | $ 6,000 |
| 319 | Luis Ramos* | $ 6,000 |
| 320 | Matt Lucas | $ 6,000 |
| 321 | T.J. O’Brien* | $ 6,000 |
| 322 | Todd Brown* | $ 6,000 |
| 323 | Willamy Freire* | $ 6,000 |
| 324 | Eddie Yagin* | $ 4,000 |
| 325 | Francisco Rivera | $ 4,000 |
| 326 | Jorge Lopez* | $ 4,000 |
| 327 | Joseph Sandoval* | $ 4,000 |
| 328 | Keith Wisniewski* | $ 4,000 |
| 329 | Maciej Jewtuszko* | $ 4,000 |
| 330 | Mike Lullo* | $ 4,000 |
| 331 | Mike Stumpf* | $ 4,000 |
| 332 | Mitch Clarke* | $ 4,000 |
| 333 | Papy Abedi* | $ 4,000 |
| 334 | Riki Fukuda* | $ 4,000 |
| 335 | Tom Blackledge* | $ 4,000 |
| 336 | Vaughan Lee* | $ 4,000 |
| 337 | Will Campuzano* | $ 4,000 |
| 338 | Byron Bloodworth* | $ 3,200 |
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