UFC 148 Fighter Purses

[Matt "Gumby" Glach]

http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/81...e-win-pay-275k

"Middleweight champion Anderson Silva received a purse of $200,000 for his second-round TKO of Chael Sonnen. Silva did not receive a win bonus but picked up an additional $75,000 for "Knockout of the Night."

However, sources told ESPN.com that Silva is expected to earn several million dollars from UFC after pay-per-view and other event-related revenues have been tallied.

Sonnen earned $50,000 for his effort."

...

Anyone else find it absurd that Sonnen got so shafted? Where's his back-end deal? He promoted the shit out of this fight and doesn't get to reap any of the rewards? If he had won would he be entitled to the back-end deal that Silva is getting? The purses are so inequitable in the UFC it's ridiculous.

And what's up with Silva not receiving a win bonus but still getting KO of the night? Seems like some shenanigans to me. In the words of Cartman... "I'm just asking questions!" :-)

[Jacob Allen]

Sonnen will receive plenty of compensation behind the scenes, don't you worry

[Chris Ludington]

I am not a union guy, but I understand the purpose. Pay has certainly increased across the board but the contract fighters have "earned" their show fees. Silva has defended his title 15 times - Chael has lost twice trying to take it. A better way to look at it is to compare the PPV buys when Chael fought anybody other than Silva. Yes, Chael hyped the fight but if he was fighting Dan Henderson do you think it would have broken any records? I don't think it would have. So as Frank Trigg said years ago, you get back what you are worth in "MOST" cases.

[Sam Sales]

those do not state the PPV % cut that Anderson definitely gets, and i am sure Sonnen gets too. If not Dana would definitely hook him up with a nice bonus i am sure. :-)

[derrick ikwueme]

i heard Anderson is getting 8 mil, much deserved, Cael should get ballet lessons & a gift certificate to his back alley steroid dealer of choice lol.

[Daniel Valdez]

Maybe they paid Chael less so that if he gets fined for roids again the athletic commission can't take that much money.
They probably are paying him a lot of money in different ways. Like going to Brazil and all the press he did.

[Mike Nunja]

For such a big fight its crazy to think the top guys only make this much. How is it that pro boxers make so much more?

[Phill Schwartz]

Why no bonus for silva? Was dana pissed?

[Kyle Spalla]

To be honest I thought Chad Mendes should have gotten the Knockout of the Night bonus for making Cody McKenzie shit his pants with that body shot.

[Matt "Gumby" Glach]

So much hate for Chael's testosterone use. I honestly don't let that influence my opinion of a fighter anymore because of how wide-spread it is. The list of fighters who have been "caught" using test includes so many legends, and from what I've heard, a large percentage of fighters who haven't been caught are using it as well. To say he doesn't deserve a significant purse because of his past test use is an ad hominem logical fallacy.

I just don't agree with how disproportionate the purses are. If you really don't think that Chael significantly contributed to UFC 148 being so successful then you're crazy. Anderson vs. Maia, Anderson vs. Cote, Anderson vs. Okami, Anderson vs. Leites... I personally didn't give a shit about any of those fights, Anderson or no Anderson... Chael's performance in his first fight against Anderson and his brilliant trash talking is what sold this fight. He deserves a lot of credit. Yea, I agree, if you substitute Anderson for a different "big name", it wouldn't have been such a draw, but you can't deny that it works both ways. Without Chael, it's just another Anderson Silva beat down.

I don't know what kind of back-end deal Chael has with the UFC, but it wasn't mentioned in the article. If he really only earned $50,000 from the promotion then that's a shameful injustice.

As far as the KO of the night goes, I don't even see how you can call that a KO, at best it was a ground and pound TKO, resulting from an arguably illegal knee. It's bullshit that they consider the high profile nature of the fight when awarding bonuses. By that logic a KO in the main event will automatically trump any KO in another fight, regardless of which was actually more impressive/entertaining/substantial/etc. Defeats the purpose of the bonuses if you ask me.

As far as not giving Anderson his win bonus, what's that all about?? Either Dana is impliedly admitting that it wasn't necessarily a legit win, because of the knee, or the grabbing of the shorts, or the greasing, or whatever, or there is some other reason that we don't know about? It definitely raises some eyebrows to give him the KO of the night but not the win bonus. Hopefully it'll be revealed at some point. I'm still undecided as to whether or not that knee was legal. It honestly might be the better business move if Dana gives Chael an immediate rematch due to the controversy. All biases aside, I know I'd love to see #3.