It's hard to say as in MMA the contracted disclosed purse isn't necessarily all that's being payed, promoters like to pay undisclosed bonuses in order to prevent other fighters & other promoters from knowing there financial business. I think the biggest disclosed sum was 1.5 million to Andrei Arlovski for his fight with Fedor. In the UFC big name fighters not only get undisclosed bonuses but also get a cut of the PPV which makes it even harder to figure out what there really being payed. Finally the general rule for fighters fighting in the UFC is that what ever there disclosed purse is they should be making at least double in sponsorships, so that has to be factored in as well. I think though based on some the info that was put out during the Randy Couture & UFC contract dispute and stuff I've heard over the years the biggest purses (made by Liddell) are around 3.5 million.
Definitely Affliction. They pay a helluva lot more than the fights are worth. Bearing that in mind we can now welcome MMA to the world of boxing.
The most absurd thing I hear all the time is that MMA promotions like the UFC are not disclosing the "real" amount they pay their fighters. That fighters gets bonuses on top of bonuses on top of PPV slice. Does anyone have proof of this "under the table pay?" The IRS wants to know. Absolutely ridiculous! Why would a sport trying to get as mainstream as Boxing understate what they pay their fighters so that other promotions(non existent) wouldnt know hahaha. It is actually the opposite they should be doing, bloating the payscale to attract people to the sport and give it legitimacy and scare off any aspiring competitor. I wouldnt be surprised if the lower end payscale that we see stated all over the place are the real pay. I remember when Stevenson lost to BJ, he was in the locker room near tears at the thought of the bills he needs to pay for his preparation/training. Now hes a semi big name and yet hes crying, hes not making his tears up folks, he probably grossed 25k for that main event fight barely covering his expenses.
There's a difference between what gets disclosed to the athletic commission (only the purse, as that's all there required to disclose) and what gets disclosed to the IRS which is not public info.
If your asking why they do it (it being keeping the #'s on the down low) you need look no further than the Randy Couture Dispute, basically Randy found out how much Chuck was making and demanded to be payed more. The UFC didn't want to renegotiate a contract they had just signed and so Randy basically ended up sitting out for a year and half and the entire heavy weight divsion got thrown into turmoil. Look at it this way if your a manager and your looking to sign your fighter to the UFC (or any promotion for that matter) don't you think it gives you a lot more bargaining power if you know what every other fighter in that promotion is making, vs. being told and having to take the promotions word for it, that your guy is getting payed what all the other new guys at that level in that division are making?
