UFC's fighters paid a cut above
AP photo
Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has clearly rewarded its fighters with large purses. This past Saturday, UFC 109's main event fighters -- Randy Couture and Mark Coleman -- both received payouts that doubled that of the Strikeforce main event fighters. Figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and reported by mmajunkie.com had Couture making $250,000 (no bonus included) and Coleman receiving $60,000.
One week earlier in Miami, Strikeforce fighters Nick Diaz received $100,000 (no bonus included) and his opponent Marius Zaromskis got $30,000 in their main event fight, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Business and Regulation.
Strikeforce fighters’ payroll totaled $469,000 compared to the UFC fighters' payroll of 944,000.
Strikeforce fighter Hershel Walker donated his purse to charity while his opponent Greg Nagy took home $5,000.
The full list of official payouts from UFC 109 card:
Randy Couture: $250,000
Mark Coleman: $60,000
Matt Serra: $150,000 ($75,000 win bonus)
Frank Trigg: $30,000
Chael Sonnen: $64,000 ($32,000 win bonus)
Nate Marquardt: $45,000
Demian Maia: $62,000 ($31,000 win bonus)
Dan Miller: $15,000
Mac Danzig: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
Justin Buchholz: $8,000
Paulo Thiago: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus)
Mike Swick: $43,000
Melvin Guillard: $28,000 ($14,000 win bonus)
Ronys Torres: $4,000
Rob Emerson: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus)
Phillipe Nover: $10,000
Phil Davis: $10,000 ($5,000 win bonus)
Brian Stann: $17,000
Chris Tuchscherer: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
Tim Hague: $7,000
Joey Beltran: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
Rolles Gracie: $15,000
The full list of official payouts from Strikeforce card:
Nick Diaz $100,000 (no win bonus)
Marius Zaromskis $30,000
Cris “Cyborg” Santos $35,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus and $5,000 championship bonus)
Marloes Coenen $2,000
Herschel Walker $600 (no win bonus)
Greg Nagy $5,000
Robbie Lawler $100,000 (no win bonus)
Melvin Manhoef $5,000
Bobby Lashley $50,000 (no win bonus)
Wes Sims $25,000
Jay Hieron $65,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus)
Joe Riggs $30,000
Pablo Alfonso $3,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
Marcos DaMotta $2,500
Hadar Hassan $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Ryan Keenan $2,000
John Kelly $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Sabah Homasi $1,000
Michael Byrnes $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
David Zitnik $1,500
David Gomez $2,000 (includes $1,000 win bonus)
Craig Oxley $1,500
Joe Ray $1,500 (includes $500 win bonus)
John Clarke $1,000
Kevin Richardson has been a fan of mixed martial arts competition ever since UFC 3, when 600-pound sumo wrestler Emmanuel Yarborough was beaten by Keith Hackney. Kevin will cover the world of MMA — in Baltimore, nationally and internationally. He plans to take readers into the locker rooms and MMA schools, where they'll hear from local fighters and trainers. If you have a news tip or suggestions for the blog, please 
Comments
You're comparing Nick Diaz's purse to Randy Couture's purse? Just because they're both in the "main event" doesn't mean that they both deserve a quarter of a million dollars to fight.
Chris--
Good point, but Nick Diaz was fighting for the championship and Randy Couture was not.
--Kevin
Posted by: Chris B | February 10, 2010 11:38 AM
Nothing hurts worse than reading that UFC fighters receive "large purses". Let's look at the revenue that the UFC generates at the gate and from PPV buys (tens of millions per show) and compare that with Strikeforce’s revenue stream. I love the UFC, but they took their business model straight out of an Upton Sinclair novel. UFC fighters are grossly underpaid and need to unionize.
Posted by: Henry | February 10, 2010 9:02 PM
Henry is a idiot if the ufc is underpaid than strikeforce and all the other fighting companies are really underpaid. I HATE IDIOTS!!!AAAHHH
Posted by: shutup | February 11, 2010 12:16 PM
MMA fighters are finally able to make a living just fighting. These guys have blazed a trail just like Johnny U and the rest of the Baltimore Colts that worked in addition to playing pro football. Remember Johnny U worked construction before he got scouted off that sandlot.
Twenty years from now we'll be talking about guys like Scott Smith and Clay Guida that worked construction on their way to becoming professional fighters. Hell, Clay's first sponsor was his carpenter's union. MMA has come a very long way in the past decade.
Posted by: Ballz Mahoney | February 13, 2010 12:02 AM
Wow... Dana White is pimp of the year. I thought third world countries were the only ones exploiting the weak... boy was I wrong. MMA is dead if they don't start paying their fighters.
Posted by: Jonny | February 14, 2010 4:36 PM