10 most expensive fights ever (on the books anyways)

by itsallgood013 on Dec 29, 2008 7:16 PM EST

After seeing the payouts for UFC 92. I got to thinking... What were the most expensive fights ever? Now, Pride never released to the public what they paid their fighters, and most of the events outside of Las Vegas and California don't have any data, because those states don't require the organizations to release the payouts to the public.

Anyways, here's what I found... If you come up with anything else, let me know. I'll change the list.

(This list includes win bonuses, but not KO of the Night, Fight of the Night, or Submission of the Night bonuses.)

1. Fedor Emelianenko-$300,000 vs. Tim Sylvia-$800,000 Total-$1.1 Million (Affliction: Banned) all for 36 seconds...

2. Andrei Arlovski-$750,000 vs. Ben Rothwell-$250,000 Total-$1 Million (Affliction: Banned)

3. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson-$225,000 vs. Chuck Liddell-$500,000 Total-$725,000 (UFC 71)

4. Brock Lesnar-$450,000 vs. Randy Couture-$250,000 Total-$700,000 (UFC 91)

5. Chuck Liddell-$500,000 vs. Wanderlei Silva-$150,000 Total-$650,000 (UFC 79)

6. Chuck Liddell-$500,000 vs. Rashad Evans-$120,000 Total-$620,000 (UFC 88)

7. Andrei Arlovski-$500,000 vs. Roy Nelson-$80,000 Total-$580,000 (EliteXC: Heat)

8. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson-$325,000 vs. Wanderlei Silva-$200,000 Total-$525,000 (UFC 92)

9. Chuck Liddell-$500,000 vs. Keith Jardine-$14,000 Total-$514,000 (UFC 76)

10. Royce Gracie-$400,000 vs. Matt Hughes-$110,000 Total-$510,000 (UFC 60)

Honorable Mention: Frank Shamrock-$300,000 vs. Cung Le-$200,000 Total-$500,000 (Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le)

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Fedor making much less than half of Silvia and Arlovski… that’s just gross.

Jardine got dicked on #9 but at least he made the top 10, right?

by donkeypunch on Dec 29, 2008 7:45 PM EST reply actions

I’m sure Fedor got his “off the books”

But a source told NBCSports.com that Emelianenko received a sizable part of his Affliction contract up front in the form of a signing bonus, and added that Emelianenko also owns the rights to his fight footage in several European countries. That second part may not mean much right now but if Affliction chooses to hold an event in Europe, they would have to pay him for the footage.

http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/07/26/more-on-fedor-emelianenkos-pay-from-affliction/

by who me on Dec 29, 2008 8:48 PM EST up reply actions

So sad to keep seeing $500,000 next to Liddell’s name. Ugh.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Dec 29, 2008 7:45 PM EST reply actions

Interesting, but it doesn't mean much since many top

fighters get paid based on ppv percentages. If I had to guess, I’d say Lesnar-Couture was the most expensive ever in terms of fighter payouts.

by Jahbulon on Dec 29, 2008 7:47 PM EST reply actions

These all beat Chuck vs. Tito 2?

by Luke Thomas on Dec 29, 2008 7:53 PM EST up reply actions

That’s the first fight that came to mind when I saw this list. I surprised it’s not listed.

by tylerdurden1 on Dec 29, 2008 8:05 PM EST up reply actions

Chuck made $250k while Ortiz made $200k. So that was only $450k between the two guys. Only one other fighter made above $25k for their base pay and that was Arlovski ($145k).

http://mmajunkie.com/news/1690/ufc-66-salaries-official-paydays-for-chuck-liddell-tito-ortiz-and-others.mma

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Dec 29, 2008 8:16 PM EST up reply actions

Interesting. Thanks.

by Luke Thomas on Dec 29, 2008 8:17 PM EST up reply actions

Chuck v Tito 2 did the most buys, but I'm guessing that

Lesnar-Couture’s base pay was incrementally higher enough to cancel out the additional buys. Plus the fact that the PPVs are more expensive now than when Chuck and Tito fought.

by Jahbulon on Dec 29, 2008 8:19 PM EST up reply actions

Chuck and Tito made all their money off that fight from the PPV percentage (which isn’t reported).

by who me on Dec 29, 2008 8:49 PM EST up reply actions

Excellent point. I completely forgot about that.

by tylerdurden1 on Dec 29, 2008 9:34 PM EST up reply actions

It would be very interesting to know what they actually made, even a small piece of that buyrate would be huge.

by who me on Dec 29, 2008 10:06 PM EST up reply actions

Was that part of the year that Dana claimed Tito made 6 million from the UFC?

by Phildo on Dec 29, 2008 10:13 PM EST up reply actions

Yes. He also made statements about what Chuck made that year (I don’t recall the numbers). If an assumption that Chuck and Tito’s buyrate percentage was similar to what Randy had in his deal numbers could be figured out using his contract that was released.

by who me on Dec 29, 2008 10:39 PM EST up reply actions

Fedor got a 1.3 million dollar bonus for beating the maniac so you can raise that one

by jks9202 on Dec 30, 2008 8:05 AM EST reply actions

For some reason I find it either hilarious or ridiculous that Jardine made 14K (win bonus included) when he beat Liddell (who made about 35 times more….)

by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Dec 30, 2008 9:22 AM EST reply actions