UFC 274 goes down this Saturday, May 7th from the Footprint Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. While the main event features Charles Oliveira taking on Justin Gaethje for the UFC lightweight gold, the highest-paid fighter on the card may in fact be former UFC interim champion, Tony Ferguson.
Tony Ferguson’s last disclosed base pay was a $350,000 fight contract for UFC 249, an interim lightweight title bout between himself and Justin Gaethje, which saw Gaethje pick up the fifth-round stoppage win over Ferguson in May of 2020.
While Tony Ferguson’s name is among legend status with UFC fight fans, the unorthodox former interim lightweight champion is currently on a three-fight losing streak and has regressed in each appearance since defeating Donald Cerrone at UFC 238 back in June of 2019. Ferguson has earned himself an impressive eleven bonus checks in his UFC career, with six bonuses for fight of the night, three for performance of the night, one knockout of the night, and one submission of the night.
UFC fighters are unable to disclose their pay based on terms in their contracts, with the majority of the state athletic commissions allowing the UFC to keep these figures undisclosed. However, with a little bit of guesstimation work using previously disclosed figures, finding out roughly how much each fighter at UFC 274 gets paid is still very possible.
To find how more about UFC 274 fighter salaries, continue reading as we break down the potential payouts for each UFC fighter for this weekend’s UFC 274 fight card from Phoenix, Arizona.
UFC 274 Fighter Salaries | UFC Fighter Pay
Charles Oliveira comes in as the headliner for UFC 274 and is likely going to take home the biggest paycheck in his UFC career, with his second UFC lightweight title defense on Saturday. Oliveira holds the UFC record for most Performance of the Night bonuses with twelve.
Since 2019, Charles Oliveira has earned $275,000 in UFC bonus checks alone, with an average of over $39,000 per fight in bonus money, over the course of his last seven octagon appearances.
As for his opponent, Justin Gaethje is no stranger to bonus money either. The collegiate wrestler turned MMA star was the first UFC fighter in history to earn a post-fight bonus in each of his first seven octagon appearances. In fact, in his last five UFC appearances, Gaethje has earned $250,000 in UFC bonus money alone.
To find out more about UFC 274 fighter pay, check out the chart below.
*UFC 274 salary figures are estimations based on recently reported payouts or comparable fighter salaries.
UFC 274 Staff Salaries
Below, we’ll break down some of the projected staff salaries for UFC 274.
- UFC Ring Girl Salary: $1,000 to $5,000 per event
- UFC Referee Salary: $700 to $2,500 per event
- UFC Ring Announcer – Bruce Buffer Salary: $50,000-$100,000 per event
- UFC Announcer – Jon Anik Salary: $500,000 a year
- UFC Announcer – Daniel Cormier Salary: $500,000 a year
- UFC Announcer – Joe Rogan Salary: $550,000 a year
UFC 274 Promotional Guidelines Compliance Pay
The UFC will pay out over $377,000 worth of incentive pay to UFC fighters for UFC 274 this weekend. Last month at UFC 273, the UFC paid out $293,500 in incentive pay to UFC fighters.
The incentive pay generated by Venum sportswear’s multi-year sponsorship deal with the UFC is disbursed under the UFC’s promotional guidelines compliance program and is paid out in tiers, depending on each fighter’s tenure with the UFC. This tenure includes Zuffa-era WEC fights, from January 2007 on, as well as Zuffa-era Strikeforce fights from April 2011 on.
Fighters with 1-3 professional bouts under the UFC/Zuffa banner will receive $4000, 4-5 fights pays out $4,5000, 6-10 bouts pays out $6,000, 11-15 pays out $11,000, 16-20 pays out $16,000 and 21 fights or more pays out $21,000. Meanwhile, title challengers are paid out $32,000, while champions are paid out $42,000.
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