UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar not only got the fattest fight purse on the entire UFC 116 card, but he also earned ten times more cash totaling $400,000 (before the fight bonus) than the former Interim Champion Shane Carwin who only got a meager $40,000, according to numbers released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Considering that the winner of a mixed martial arts bout usually gets his base pay doubled Lesnar already started out at $200,000 which was still five times more than Carwin's $40,000. Apparently, Carwin's perfect fight record of 12-0 prior to UFC 116 or the fact that he was the interim champion did not impress UFC President Dana White too much.
In fact, even non-title holder Chris Leben got more than Carwin with a base pay of $43,000 which he then doubled to $86,000 with his win over Japanese MMA sensation Yoshihiro Akiyama. Akiyama obviously had more stock value than Carwin in White's eyes, too, as he was paid $5,000 more than Carwin just for showing up.
As far as marketing value goes Stephan "The American Psycho" Bonnar can do no wrong since White still credits him for making the reality MMA show, The Ultimate Fighter, a success with his slug-fest performance against Forrest Griffin in the Finale of season one. As a result Bonnar's fight purse for UFC 116 was $25,000 although he was coming off a 3-bout losing streak. Bonnar certainly showed his appreciation for White's generosity by delivering another 'slam-bam-don't-give-a-damn' kind of fight that was reminiscent of his first UFC fight against Griffin in 2005.
Luckily for Bonnar he was able to TKO Krzysztof Soszynski and double his paycheck to $50,000. The proverbial icing on the cake was being awarded the Fight of the Night bonus in the amount of $75,000 which increased Bonnar's total UFC 116 income to $125,000. Not bad for 13 minutes of action inside the octagon. Soszynski, on the other hand, made only $10,000 which was still twice as much as the least paid fighter at UFC 116.
The minimum wage pay on this UFC card went to Goran Reljic who earned a total of $5,000 for taking on Kendall Grove. Grove doubled his purse of $25,000 to $50,000 with his defeat of Reljic.
Lesnar even earned a little tip for his defeat of Carwin in the second round with the Submission of the Night bonus which increased his total UFC 116 income to $475,000. Reljic would not even need a calculator to figure out that Lesnar made 95 times more than he did. Suddenly Carwin's fight purse does not seem so small anymore.
Complete disclosed payouts (does not include any sponsorships):
Brock Lesnar ($400,000) def. Shane Carwin ($40,000)
Chris Leben ($86,000) def. Yoshihiro Akiyama ($45,000)
Chris Lytle ($52,000) def. Matt Brown ($10,000)
Stephan Bonnar ($50,000) def. Krzysztof Soszynski ($10,000)
George Sotiropoulos ($24,000) def. Kurt Pellegrino ($25,000)
Brendan Schaub ($20,000) def. Chris Tuchscherer ($12,000)
Ricardo Romero ($16,000) def. Seth Petruzelli ($10,000)
Kendall Grove ($50,000) def. Goran Reljic ($5,000)
Gerald Harris ($20,000) def. David Branch ($6,000)
Daniel Roberts ($12,000) def. Forrest Petz ($6,000)
Jonathan Madsen ($16,000) def. Karel Vemola ($8,000)
Total disclosed payouts: $923,000
Click here to see all UFC 116 fight bonuses.
- Click here for complete UFC 116 fight results.
- Click here to see the medical suspensions after UFC 116.
- Click here for entire UFC 116 coverage.
- Click here to see more articles on Brock Lesnar.
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