UFC 121 Salaries: Lesnar Loses, But Wins

The old expression “you can’t win for losing” apparently doesn’t apply to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.  Lesnar very clearly did lose at UFC 121, but he also won, at least in a financial sense.  Rightfully so, since he is the UFC’s pay-per-view golden goose, Lesnar took home the highest reported salary from the event, pocketing a cool $400000 for having Cain Velasquez turn his left cheek into a replica of the Grand Canyon.

Tito Ortiz also does a good job at winning despite losing.  The former light heavyweight titan hasn’t won a match in over four years (and that was against an over-the-hill Ken Shamrock), yet he still pulls in $250000 every time he steps into the Octagon.  No wonder he said at the post-UFC 121 press conference that he has no plans ofretiring any time soon.  All in all, Zuffa made UFC 121 the richest UFC event of the year in terms of reported salaries, shelling out $1793000 to its 22 combatants.  Here is how the pieces of the pie were distributed.

Brock Lesnar: $400000
Cain Velasquez: $270000 ($100000 to show, $100000 win bonus, $70000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Tito Ortiz: $250000
Diego Sanchez: $170000 ($50000 to show, $50000 win bonus, $70000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Jake Shields: $150000 ($75000 to show, $75000 win bonus)
Paulo Thiago: $88000 ($18000 to show, $70000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Daniel Roberts: $86000 ($8000 to show, $8000 to win, $70000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Gabriel Gonzaga: $67000
Matt Hamill: $58000 ($29000 to show, $29000 win bonus)
Sam Stout: $32000 ($16000 to show, $16000 win bonus)
Court McGee: $30000 ($15000 to show, $15000 win bonus)
Gilbert Yvel: $30000
Martin Kampmann: $27000
Patrick Cote: $21000
Brendan Schaub: $20000 ($10000 to show, $10000 win bonus)
Tom Lawlor: $20000 ($10000 to show, $10000 win bonus)
Chris Camozzi: $16000 ($8000 to show, $8000 win bonus)
Jon Madsen: $16000 ($8000 to show, $8000 win bonus)
Paul Taylor: $16000
Ryan Jensen: $10000
Dong Yi Yang: $8000
Mike Guymon: $8000

And with UFC 120 and 121 in the books, our 2010 UFC Fighter Salary Database has been updated, with a new top earner for the year.  And, no, it isn’t who you think – the name of the top earning UFC fighter for 2010 so far will come as a suprise to most.