are these ufc fighters getting paid fairly?
 

I noticed that ufc fighters are making chump change compared to boxers. Now i know there is more money in prize fight boxing than in ufc right now, but the difference is unreal. I would like to know other peoples opinions on this. And why didn't mmanews.com post what fighters got paid at ufc 59? Is the UFC hiding this?

Here you go.

Fighter Payouts

Andrei Arlovski - $90,000

Tim Sylvia - $45,000

Nick Diaz - $10,000

Sean Sherk - $8,000

Tito Ortiz - $200,000

Forrest Griffin - $16,000

Evan Tanner - $20,000

Justin Levens - $5,000

Marcio Cruz - $5,000

Jeff Monson - $5,000

Karo Parisyan - $8,000

Nick Thompson - $5,000

Scott Smith - $3,000

David Terrell - $6,000

Terry Martin - $2,000

Jason Lambert - $4,000

Thiago Alves - $4,000

Derrick Noble - $3,000

Total Fighter Payout (strictly show purses): $439,000

Miscellaneous payouts

All referees (including "Big" John McCarthy) - $1,200 each

CSAC doctors - $600-800 each

CSAC judges - $1,000 each

All figures are courtesy of the California State Athletic Commission.

Thank you Anthony. I've been wanting to see that. All I have to say is WOW. I see some guys making decent money but whats up with Forrest making that much less than Tito. 16 thousand for a guy i thought was supposed to make 6 figures a year. I would hate for these underpaid guys to start throwing and fixing fights to start making money. As of now i don't think it's happened yet, and as a fan, I hope it never does. Just look at boxing over the years.

No no, that's w/out win bonuses. Those are figures I dug up. It's just their "show" purse. Win bonuses in most cases is the same as show purse, except obviously for Ortiz's figure. But yeah they're still disgustingly underpaid.

Nah, it's common knowledge that UFC doesn't pay as much as they should, but I'm sure I read somewhere that a recent Pride main event (I'm damned if I can remember who) shared $3m!!

That's too much IMO for one fight & it's a bit obscene that Tito got nearly half the total purse for UFC59.

If they are paying Tito that for every fight why not try to bring in Rampage. He is the biggest name Dana could bring in & would generate the most interest bar none, unless $200k's not enough for him.

Still for all the UFC's faults on this subject they still seem to attract the fighters so hats off to them.

I think you are talking about the Yoshida-Ogawa fight which reportedly cost around 3-4 mil to put together. Some guys in UFC get paid very well, like Chuck and Tito, formerly Randy did as well. But it's pretty sad that guys like Terry Martin barely get paid more than a judge.

"why not try to bring in Rampage. He is the biggest name Dana could bring in & would generate the most interest bar none"

Wrong. But among the die-hard fans, that's obviously the one we want the most. Mainstream fans, the casual audience, they don't have a clue who Rampage is.

I didn't even think about that, someone sitting outside mis-scoring a fight is getting paid almost as much as the guy in the ring taking punches and being screwed over when the official scorecards are read off. That's really pathetic.

From what I understand there will be a period like this where the payouts will be low. UFC is spending major money to promote the PPV's as well as the TV shows and whatnot. The incoming revenue off of the PPV's and the ticket sales.

I'm sure as popularity increases, the payouts will as well. Considering where they were a few years ago, they have a reputation to rebuild.

I think we will see a shift in payouts over the next bunch of PPV's.

Plus, sponsors I'm sure are keeping these guys taken care of when they plaster their logo on their fighters' shorts. I'm sure that these guys aren't doing it for chump change.

Not sure what you're talking about here. I assume you mean casual fans who watch UFC only, because joe public won't even know who Chuck Liddle is.

What's the percentage of "casual fans" in the US that pay big bucks to attend the UFC events or subscribe to PPV?

I'll be the first to admit that the most famous mma fighter I knew before I "got into" mma was Shamrock, but my dad (who's a die hard boxing fan) knows who Rampage is because of his KO over Chuck. I would wager that if you surveyed outside any mma show "who would you want to see against Chuck Liddle?", you'll get a 50/50 split between Silva & Rampage.

Tito making 200 grand for a fight is the stupidest thing ive ever seen especially when he lost that fight... I wonder if Judges were paid off with part of the prize money cause anyone with any sense saw that tito got beat. bad leg or not... Forrest Griffin was robbed of that match and thats the bottom line... and a contract for 6 figures a year... Ya know thats just wrong.. Why not pay a little more to the Fighters... except the big names... i think if a fighter wins the match his next fight should be for atleast 1000 bucks more after winning a fight. when they lose drop it down 500 bucks. i mean hell these guys love to fight yeah but i mean hell boxers like mike tyson can make 30 million in one fucking night... why not publisize MMA to boxings levels... these guys train day in and day out taking fights just to make a living barely.. i mean damn come on lets give the guys some money... I wonder how much Gracie is making for this fight 1 mil 2 mil shit im sure if a fighter has a great name they are worth more but tito isnt worth 200 grand even if it was to watch him get shot in the fucking head. :P