Diego Sanchez scored an event-high base salary of $70,000 for his dominating victory over Luigi Fioravanti at Saturday’s live finale for “The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest.”
Other top earners from the event, which took place at The Palms Las Vegas and aired live on Spike TV, included Spencer Fisher ($36,000) and main-event winner Kendall Grove ($32,000). “TUF7” champion Amir Sadollah earned $16,000.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today received the list of official salaries from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The total disclosed payroll for the event was $410,000.
The reported salaries included:
* Kendall Grove ($32,000) def. Evan Tanner ($25,000)
* Amir Sadollah ($16,000) def. C.B. Dollaway ($8,000)
* Diego Sanchez ($70,000) def. Luigi Fioravanti ($10,000)
* Spencer Fisher ($36,000) def. Jeremy Stephens ($16,000)
* Matthew Riddle ($16,000) def. Dante Rivera ($8,000)
* Dustin Hazelett ($24,000) def. Josh Burkman ($10,000)
* Drew McFedries ($26,000) def. Marvin Eastman ($9000)
* Matt Brown ($16,000) def. Matt Arroyo ($8,000)
* Dean Lister ($28,000) def. Jeremy Horn ($25,000)
* Tim Credeur ($8,000) vs. Cale Yarbrough ($8,000)*
* Rob Kimmons ($6,000) def. Rob Yundt ($5,000)
* – The fight was scratched on the night of the event due to Credeur’s failed drug test (Adderall). The payroll figures assume the fighters were paid their base (“show”) pay. We’re awaiting official word from NSAC executive director Keith Kizer.
All of the winning fighters’ salaries included 50 percent of the total to show and 50 percent as a win bonus. For example, Grove got $16,000 to show and an additional $16,000 as a win bonus.
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.
The figures also do not include $20,000 “Fight Night” bonuses dished out after the event. Hazelett, who earned a slick arm-bar submission victory over Burkman, earned $20,000 for Submission of the Night plus an additional $20,000 for Fight of the Night (Burkman also received $20,000 for Fight of the Night). McFedries earned $20,000 for Knockout of the Night for his 68-second TKO of Eastman.
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