(Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
Once again – it was good to be Michael Bisping on Saturday night. The Count earned the highest payday (not including PPV revenues or other bonuses) at last night’s UFC 159 pay-per-view.
Before we go any further, we should note that the New Jersey Athletic Commission doesn’t release fighter purse 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 22 fighters that traded blows at the event (but please remember – this is only an estimate, not official info, especially for any fighters that made their UFC debuts at the event – for Strikeforce fighters that made their debut, we used their most recent Strikeforce pay level as their estimate). These numbers obviously also don’t include any PPV revenue, undisclosed bonuses and/or sponsorship money any of these fighters may have made.
UPDATE: Pat Healy failed a drug test, forfeiting his win bonus and end of night bonuses. Submission of the Night bonus has now been awarded to Bryan Caraway.
Prudential Center
Newark, New Jersey
Attendance: 15,227
Gate: $2,700,000
Michael Bisping: $425,000 ($275,000 to show, $150,000 win bonus)
Jon Jones: $400,000
Roy Nelson: $113,000 ($24,000 to show, $24,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jim Miller: $111,000 ($46,000 to show, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Chael Sonnen: $100,000
Bryan Caraway: $85,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus, $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Cheick Kongo: $70,000
Phil Davis: $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 win bonus)
Ovince Saint Preux: $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 win bonus)
Cody McKenzie: $24,000 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus)
Steven Siler: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus)
Leonard Garcia: $20,000
Gian Villante: $19,000
Pat Healy: $25,000
Vinny Magalhaes: $22,000
Rustam Khabilov: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus)
Sara McMann: $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 win bonus)
Johnny Bedford: $8,000
Yancy Medeiros: $6,000
Sheila Gaff: $6,000
Kurt Holobaugh: $6,000
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