Oh boy, you will not believe the rabbit hole I went down today! All because I got curious about those UFC 294 salaries. You know, the big fight with Makhachev and Volkanovski? I had to know how much those guys were making, it was a crazy event!
So, first I hit up Google, just a simple search, you know? “UFC 294 salaries.” Boom! Tons of stuff popped up. Turns out, the big dogs, Makhachev and Volkanovski, they were apparently set to get a cool $1 million each as their base pay. I thought, “Wow, that’s a lot of dough just to show up!”
But then I dug deeper. I started looking into how it all breaks down for the other fighters. It’s not like everyone’s getting a million bucks. Apparently, if you’ve only had like 4 or 5 fights in the UFC, you’re looking at around $4,500 per fight. That seems not much, right? Then, I found out that once you get to 6-10 fights, it bumps up to $6,000. And the guys with 11-15 fights under their belt? They’re pulling in around $11,000 a pop. So it slowly climbs up.
Performance Bonuses
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Then, there are these things called “performance bonuses.” I read that Makhachev got one of those too, on top of his base pay! So smart!
I stumbled upon some data, but it’s not official, about the total money made at UFC 294. We’re talking over $13 million! And get this, Makhachev supposedly walked away with over $4 million when you add up his base pay, bonuses, and everything. Volkanovski wasn’t too far behind, with over $3 million. And Chimaev? He apparently got around $2.85 million.
Chimaev’s Big Payday
Speaking of Chimaev, this guy made some serious bank that night. I saw that his base salary was $750,000, and he got another $750,000 for winning! Plus, they estimate he got around $850,000 from pay-per-view money. And even a little $6,000 for sponsorship. Add it all up, and he’s looking at over $2.3 million for one fight!
And the average UFC fighter? Only about $91,250 in 2022. It blew my mind how much less the average fighter makes compared to the big names. And here’s the kicker – apparently, the average UFC fighter’s pay actually went down from 2021, when it was around $160,000! Crazy, right?
So yeah, that’s what I learned today about UFC fighter pay. It’s a wild world, and there’s a huge difference between what the stars make and what the average fighter takes home. I spent hours on this, but it was worth it. I feel like I’ve got a much better understanding of the whole thing now. And realize how hard it is to earn money from UFC!
