Dana White appeared at last night’s post UFC 238 press conference in Chicago looking pretty pleased with himself. Good event and good fights. Early year glitches with the ESPN PPV platform seem to have worked themselves out. I certainly haven’t heard of widespread complaints about it this time round.

White was in good enough form to laugh off some of the media doubters who had been sticking it to, him in a negative sense, over the ESPN deal.

” I came into this week hearing some negative crap again, that I’ve been hearing for 20 years. 5 months, maybe 6 months, that ballpark we’ve been with these guys (ESPN), The business has gone like this…… pssssshhhhh (pointing straight up) “

According to White many commentators were expecting the UFC’s own media product UFC FightPass to take a hit, especially with the large ESPN + broadcasting package competing with them on non-PPV fights. He was eager to remind all present that it’s doing bigger numbers now than before joining forces with ESPN.

In fairness, I think a lot of media and twitterati, miss the point about the value of what Fight Pass offers. Especially in terms of being a huge library of historical fights and a training tool used by fighters and gyms the world over. That’s in addition to it’s obvious entertainment value.

” This ESPN deal is massive, I always knew it would be massive, I don’t know how any of you (media) could’ve ever thought it wouldn’t be massive being on ESPN. The tide has Risen. The whole business goes up and that’s just in 5 months ”

– Dana White

The above quote got me thinking.

Has the tide actually risen for the fighters?

If the business as a whole has skyrocketed into orbit the last 5 months, is this reflecting itself in the reported salaries of contracted UFC fighters?

UFC / ESPN UFC 238 vs UFC / Fox Sports UFC 232

Here we take a look at last nights reported salaries for UFC 238 and compare them with the reported salaries from the last big PPV event in the Pre-ESPN era – UFC 232.

A number of years ago, the UFC struck a promotional deal with Reebok whereby all fighters are contracted to wear Reebok gear. The pay-out to the fighters is convoluted, controversial and much criticized. In recent times the UFC seem to have bundled this payment to fighters with other promotional duties expected of them on fight week. It is now called – ” UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance Pay “

We have the splits of this and total fighter compensation below.







Written By: Gerry O’Neill, Follow me on Facebook here

UFC 238 – United Center, Chicago

Attendance: 16,083

Gate: $2,034,387.49

Total Reported Salaries: $2,534,500

of which is Promotional Pay: $304,500

UFC 232 – The Forum, Inglewood, California

Attendance: 15,862

Gate: $2,066,604

Total Reported Salaries: $3,844,000

of which Promotional pay is: $ 313,000

As can be seen from above, it is pretty clear that there has been no massive promotional increase to the fighters based on these 2 PPV comparisons. In fact the promotional pay-outs last night are marginally down from that late December 2018, UFC 232 card.

This is skewed somewhat due to there being a few additional fights on the UFC 232 card. However, as can be seen below, it is evident that Fighters at the top are still not clearing more than 30/40 grand for main event and championship fights in promotional pay. Salaries are not skyrocketing either.

Theoretically the anchor advertiser Reebok are now getting a lot more bang for their buck on ESPN. This is not translating into higher promotional pay for the fighters though.

Obviously so, the transition from Fox Sports to ESPN has not seen promotional pay rise in any meaningful way in the official figures.

ESPN are undoubtedly happy thus far…

UFC are undoubtedly happy thus far….

But the contracted fighters won’t be as happy….







UFC 238 – United Center, Chicago . Illinois

Full fighter pay, bonuses and promotional compensation

Henry Cejudo: $440,000 ($350,000 to show, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Valentina Shevchenko: $300,000 ($105,000 to show, $105,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Donald Cerrone: $245,000 ($175,000 to show, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Tony Ferguson: $235,000 ($160,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $15,000 fight week incentive pay)

Aljamain Sterling: $160,000 ($75,000 to show, $75,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Marlon Moraes: $130,000 ($100,000 to show, $30,000 fight week incentive pay)

Jessica Eye: $130,000 ($100,000 to show, $30,000 fight week incentive pay)

Blagoy Ivanov: $113,500 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Eddie Wineland: $77,000 ($31,000 to show, $31,000 win bonus, $15,000 fight week incentive pay)

Ricardo Lamas: $75,000 ($55,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Jimmie Rivera: $73,000 ($68,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Petr Yan: $64,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Tatiana Suarez: $64,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Pedro Munhoz: $61,000 ($51,000 to show, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Darren Stewart: $49,000 ($22,000 to show, $22,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Katlyn Chookagian: $41,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Calvin Kattar: $40,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Xiaonan Yan: $36,000 ($16,000 to show, $16,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Angela Hill: $36,000 ($26,000 to show, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Alexa Grasso: $32,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 win bonus, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Karolina Kowalkiewicz: $30,000 ($25,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Nina Ansaroff: $29,000 ($24,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Joanne Calderwood: $25,000 ($20,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Tai Tuivasa: $20,000 ($16,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Bevon Lewis: $15,500 ($12,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Grigory Popov: $13,500 ($10,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

#UFC 232 Full fighter pay, bonuses and promotional compensation below

Cris Cyborg: $540,000 ($500,000 to show, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Jon Jones: $530,000 ($500,000 to show, $30,000 fight week incentive pay)

Alexander Gustafsson: $530,000 ($500,000 to show, $30,000 fight week incentive pay)

Amanda Nunes: $440,000 ($350,000 to show, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Andrei Arlovski: $320,000 ($300,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Alexander Volkanovski: $180,000 ($65,000 to show, $60,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

B.J. Penn: $170,000 ($150,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Chad Mendes: $152,000 ($87,000 to show, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus, $15,000 fight week incentive pay)

Corey Anderson: $140,000 ($65,000 to show, $65,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Carlos Condit: $135,000 ($115,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Uriah Hall: $120,000 ($55,000 to show, $55,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Michael Chiesa: $106,000 ($48,000 to show, $48,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Ilir Latifi: $100,000 ($90,000 to show, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Ryan Hall: $91,500 ($19,000 to show, $19,000 win bonus, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Walt Harris: $78,000 ($36,000 to show, $36,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay, $4,000 fine for failed drug test)

Megan Anderson: $63,500 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Petr Yan: $55,500 ($26,000 to show, $26,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Cat Zingano: $55,000 ($50,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Curtis Millender: $39,500 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Siyar Bahadurzada: $38,000 ($33,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Brian Kelleher: $36,000 ($27,000 to show, $4,000 from Jackson for missing weight, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Nathaniel Wood: $27,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Douglas Silva de Andrade: $26,000 ($21,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Montel Jackson: $19,500 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus, $4,000 fine for missing weight, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Andre Ewell: $15,500 ($12,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Bevon Lewis: $15,500 ($12,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Written By: Gerry O’Neill

Follow me on Facebook here

Fighter Actual Salaries for UFC 238 to Follow in a couple of hours…

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