The official fighter purses for those who competed at UFC 104: “Machida vs. Shogun” this past Saturday night (Oct. 24) from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., were released earlier today by that state athletic commission.
Main event participants, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, accounted for nearly 40 percent of the entire payroll with their combined salaries ($355,000).
Former number one lightweight contender, Joe Stevenson ($94,000), and surging heavyweight contender, Cain Velasquez ($70,000), rounded out the top earners of the evening.
Here is the complete list of UFC 104 payouts:
Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida — $200,000
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua — $155,000
Machida defeated Rua via unanimous decision
Cain Velasquez — $70,000 ($35,000 to show, $35,000 to win)
Ben Rothwell — $50,000
Velasquez defeated Rothwell via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Gleison Tibau — $38,000 ($19,000 to show, $19,000 to win)
Josh Neer — $14,000
Tibau defeated Neer via unanimous decision
Joe Stevenson — $94,000 ($47,000 to show, $47,000 to win)
Spencer Fisher — $26,000
Stevenson defeated Fisher via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson — $30,000 ($15,000 to show, $15,000 to win)*
Yoshiyuki “Zenko” Yoshida — $12,000
Johnson defeated Yoshida via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Ryan “Darth” Bader — $30,000 ($15,000 to show, $15,000 to win)
Eric “Red” Schafer — $13,000
Bader defeated Schafer via unanimous decision
Pat Barry — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
Antoni Hardonk –
Barry defeated Hardonk via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Chael Sonnen — $54,000 ($27,000 to show, $27,000 to win)
Yushin “Thunder” Okami — $18,000
Sonnen defeated Okami via unanimous decision
Jorge “El Conquistador” Rivera — $36,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 to win)
Rob “The Rosedale Reaper” Kimmons — $9,000
Rivera defeated Kimmons via technical knockout (strikes) in round three
Kyle Kingsbury — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Razak Al-Hassan — $3,000
Kingsbury defeated Razak Al-Hassan via split decision
Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
Chase Gormley — $10,000
Struve defeated Gormley via submission (triangle choke) in round one
*Required to forfeit 20 percent of purse and pay it to Yoshida for missing the 170-pound division limit at the official weigh in.
Keep in mind the salaries listed above do not include fight bonuses, sponsorships, percentages and other unofficial payments. It also does not include deductions for expenses such as insurance, taxes, etc.
For example, the UFC often hands out extra cash for “Fight of the Night,” “Knockout of the Night” and “Submission of the Night.” To check out these figures for UFC 104 go here.
The total base fighter payroll for the blockbuster pay-per-view (PPV) event, which attracted an official crowd of 14,892 attendees and a solid gate of $1.9 million, was $922,000.
For complete results and coverage of “Machida vs. Shogun” click here and here.
