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[pa99fighter]

UFC 86 salaries: Forrest Griffin earns $250K, Quinton Jackson gets $225K
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jul 07, 2008 at 2:15 pm ET
Main-event winner and new UFC lightweight champion Forrest Griffin earned a base salary of $250,000 at UFC 86, and opponent Quinton Jackson picked up $225,000. The two fighters earned the highest base salaries at the event.

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) today obtained the list of official salaries from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Total payroll for the pay-per-view event, which took place July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events in Las Vegas, was $943,000.

Griffin and Jackson accounted for 50.4 percent of the payroll.

Also worth noting is that Gabriel Gonzaga earned the event's third-highest payout ($100,000) despite appearing in an un-aired preliminary card.

The full list of salaries included:

Forrest Griffin: $250,000 ($150,000 win bonus) def.
Quinton Jackson: $225,000

Patrick Cote: $32,000 ($16,000 win bonus) def.
Ricardo Almeida: $23,000

Joe Stevenson: $60,000 ($30,000 win bonus) def.
Gleison Tibau: $11,000

Josh Koscheck: $70,000 ($35,000 win bonus) def.
Chris Lytle: $14,000

Tyson Griffin: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus) def.
Marcus Aurelio: $40,000

Gabriel Gonzaga: $100,000 ($50,000 win bonus) def.
Justin McCully: $5,000

Cole Miller: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def.
Jorge Gurgel: $ 10,000

Melvin Guillard: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def.
Dennis Siver: $7,000

Justin Buchholz: $8,000 ($4000 win bonus) def.
Corey Hill: $8,000

Now, the usual disclaimer: the figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter's income. They also do not include any other "locker-room" or special bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. In other words, these are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.

I don't see anything wrong with these salaries

[sandywh]

go back a year ago and guys were complaining about the unaired undercard guys only making $2500 to $3500. Salaries have literally doubled in the past year. Not to mention the KO, Sub. and FOTN bonuses.

[hunterkiller]

This won't spark as much debate as past payouts have. That can only mean pay is improving.

[bega]

And those numbers don't include bonuses for fight of the night, KO and sub of the night.

[antdenman]

Justin McCully makes $5,000 a fight. If he fights 4 times in a year = 20,000. That is sick. I know it says the UFC gives "other" bonuses", but still. They would have to amount to another 20,000, at the very least, for him to be actually making money. I'm not saying McCully deserves more, I guess I am just really shocked.

[Dork8503]

Thats cool that Forrest makes 100,000 a fight. It looks like Dana didn't want to give him to much but put the rest in a win bonus. You win you get a lot of money, you lose you still get 100,000.

forrest took him 310,000 and the belt. Thats good shit right there.

When Jackson wins he gets 450,000. Its all good money.

I am sure Zuffa gave Forrest an Rampage some extra sweaty cash for that main event they put on

Wonder why Kos makes more then Joe Daddy, and Joe daddy won tuf and fought for a title.

[ozzy2525]

Originally Posted by antdenman

Justin McCully makes $5,000 a fight. If he fights 4 times in a year = 20,000. That is sick. I know it says the UFC gives "other" bonuses", but still. They would have to amount to another 20,000, at the very least, for him to be actually making money. I'm not saying McCully deserves more, I guess I am just really shocked.

He gets a bonus if he wins. He has sponsers that make fighters a lot of income. Its not that hard to get a job teaching classes at a school.

[chungt79]

Nice payout.

[Frag x 3]

You know people would train under a heavyweight that fought in the UFC, just because they can tell their friends that a UFC fighter is their teacher. McCully most likely has a training job and sponsor money to help pay the bills, plus pay someone to do his hair.

[Dork8503]

Originally Posted by Frag x 3

You know people would train under a heavyweight that fought in the UFC, just because they can tell their friends that a UFC fighter is their teacher. McCully most likely has a training job and sponsor money to help pay the bills, plus pay someone to do his hair.

he is a trainer at team punishment i think and is sponsored by punishment

The guy must be doing something because he hardly ever fights