"EliteXC: Unfinished Business" Payroll Released

by Chris Nelson on Jul 30, 2008 11:57 PM EDT in MMA News

Robbie Lawler: $90,000 (which included a $45,000 win bonus)
def. Scott Smith: $14,000

Nick Diaz: $60,000 (no win bonus)
def. Thomas Denny: $8,500

Jake Shields: $45,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Nick Thompson: $25,000

Cristiane Cyborg: $6,000 ($3,000 win bonus)
def. Shayna Baszler: $8,000

Antonio Silva: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus)
def. Justin Eilers: $20,000

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Travis Galbraith: $5,000

Wilson Reis: $5,000 ($2,500 win bonus)
def. Bryan Caraway: $2,000

Anthony Ruiz: $5,001 ($3,00O win bonus)
def. Jeremy Freitag: $2,5000

David Douglas: $4,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Marlon Matias: $2,500

Carl Seumanutafa: $4,000 ($2,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Cook: $2000

Drew Montgomery: $3,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Brandon Tarn: $2,000

Two things are glaringly obvious: Antonio Silva made out like a bandit, and the ladies were completely screwed.

The small fortune "Bigfoot" came away with is a tidy $120,000 pay bump from his $80,000 performance against Ricco Rodriguez. It's kind of bizarre that -- officially -- he made almost double what Lawler and Smith made combined, but maybe that's the Showtime money.

As for Cyborg and Baszler, there's really no explanation other than that they were -- again, officially -- criminally underpaid for one of the best fights of the night.

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Comments

It makes great sense

to have your highest paid fighter NOT fight on the primetime broadcast.

Well played.

by monkeyfightclub! on Jul 31, 2008 12:08 AM EDT reply actions

What’s the story with that? Did they have to up Silva’s pay significantly to avoid competition signing him? If that’s the case, lookout when they have to resign other top talent in their org.

by LiuLang on Jul 31, 2008 12:44 AM EDT reply actions

Scott Smith got 14k to headline on CBS?

Wasn’t ol’ Gary Shaw blowing raspberries at Dana for paying Jardine 10k for his beating at the hands of Wand? Lot of 2-5k action going on there.. Wow..

by Blackout612 on Jul 31, 2008 1:22 AM EDT reply actions

EliteXC isn’t making $10-15 million in PPV revenue though.

by smoogy on Jul 31, 2008 2:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, when I was making seven bucks an hour in high school, I wasn’t rolling my eyes at my old man because he didn’t drive a Lex.

by Blackout612 on Jul 31, 2008 2:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Ummm ...

But was he being fair about how much he shared with yer Ma? Or was yer family wearing shoddy shoes while Pops drove the Lex?

by asa on Jul 31, 2008 5:15 AM EDT up reply actions

I bought my own shoes.

by Blackout612 on Jul 31, 2008 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions

once contracts are up...

once elite xc contracts are up watch out… that will be the death nail, when the fat lady sings.

According to my sources the contract extends 1 year after you win the title so do the math.

They’re stuck with silva who gets paid 200k and they wont even put on network tv and lawler, and noons will be up a year after they won the belt.

the good news is shields was just newly crowned.

at the end of the day they’re building stars for the UFC.

The bottom line is whichever company is most profitable wins as they last longer and can pay when others die off.

If your org isnt profitable all you’re doing is getting fans for the UFC and building fighters for them..

by mmalogic on Jul 31, 2008 2:37 AM EDT reply actions

I don't understand EliteXC...or do I?

They want to pay huge money to Silva and they don’t televise it. I’ve always thought of EliteXC as a PROMOTION of mma instead of a MMA promotion. What I mean is that they are bigger on stories and excitement than they are on meaningful fights. This is fine by me as it’s a wonderful introduction for the uninformed into the sport. MMA can be exciting, but most of the time it isn’t 100% adrenaline.

It’s very interesting in that they would have a quality fighter in Antonio Silva and be willing to pay him such big bucks to not broadcast the bouts. The next 3 top paid fighters combined still didn’t get more than he did. Only reason I can think for them to do this is that they are “planning” for the future. That is giving their golden goose (kimbo) a chance at a real fighter and hopefully a somewhat established championship (defended). Of course that would have to be at 2 fights removed on the last of the CBS contracted shows or even after (to give CBS a reason to extend contract).

The problem with all this is that EliteXC just lost their point man in Gary Shaw. To be a “PROMOTION of mma” you need a recognizable name that is willing to shamelessly promote. It seems with Shaw’s reduced role before this show and exit after that the promotion was greatly effected in this show. Hopefully EliteXC can regain it’s direction before the Next show. If they can’t will there even be a next show?

UFC and Affliction are probably watching intently..

by natyong on Jul 31, 2008 4:40 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Damn. Some of these guys really deserve more money…..

by Cmad77 on Jul 31, 2008 7:35 AM EDT reply actions

and gals

by mythbuster on Jul 31, 2008 7:56 AM EDT up reply actions

Gal....

I think Cyborg might be a dude.

by Jiiri on Jul 31, 2008 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions

They’ll be done a year from now…paying Antonio Silva $200K…and still paying Gary Shaw and Doug DeLuca over $200K a year as consultants....how dumb is that?

http://tharealness.wordpress.com/

by Tha Realness on Jul 31, 2008 8:02 AM EDT reply actions

I have to say I was looking forward to watching more eliteXC in the future. But after seeing this, I’m not sure how much longer they will be around. Their payscale is screwed up.

by monkeyfightclub! on Jul 31, 2008 9:34 AM EDT reply actions

Jake Shields only made $45K, and that includes $10K in win bonus. I guess he’s relatively unknown, but he’s a top level welterweight. There’s no one else on EXC’s roster that’s any more talented. I wonder how long his contract lasts? He could have some great matches in the UFC.

by Cannon Jacques on Jul 31, 2008 1:29 PM EDT reply actions