- Paddy Pimblett finished Michael Chandler in third round of UFC 314 fight
- He earned bonus in addition to his career-high payday for huge win
- Alexander Volkanovski’s title victory earned him staggering amount
Details of fighter pay for UFC 314 have emerged, with Paddy Pimblett cashing in with a career-high payday.
‘The Baddy’ demolished Michael Chandler over the course of three rounds before finishing him in the third and taking home a guaranteed £420,000, according to BetMGM.
That’s including the extra £42,000 for Performance of the Night in the co-main event.
Chandler, who is now left staring down the barrel of a UFC career without his championship ambitions realised, was paid £382,000 for his night’s work.
Pimblett remains undefeated in the UFC and is now likely to be just two fights away from a title shot.
His decision to sign is now paying dividends given that he took a pay cut on his first contract with the organisation. ‘I signed for a pay cut at first,’ he told Full Send last week.
Paddy Pimblett (right) earned £420,000 in guaranteed money for beating Michael Chandler
Alexander Volkanovski banked more than double the next closest fighter on the night
Dominick Reyes’ KO of Nikita Krylov earned him £121,000 after the Miami event
‘My first two fights were 10/10 ($10,000 to show $10,000 to win) and then 12/12 and, obviously, after I won my second fight, we got a new deal, and it went up.’
At the top of the card, Alexander Volkanovski earned more than double the next highest-paid fighter.
The Australian veteran won back his old belt by beating Diego Lopes for the vacant title left by Ilia Topuria, who has moved up to lightweight.
Volk earned £1,419,000 in guaranteed money on the night, while Lopes was paid £515,000 in by far the biggest payday of his career.
The fact that Volkanovski has been successful for such a long period of time, in title fights and main events, has led to his current earnings.
Salaries increase with every victory and the Aussie, considered by many to be the greatest featherweight in UFC history is paid as such.
At 35, many doubted whether he would be able to reclaim the belt at 145lbs but now he’s reached the summit for the second time, there will be plenty more big fights and even more significant pay packets in his future.
Five fighters on the card earned less that £100,000 – they were Michal Oleksiejczuk, Sean Woodson, Virna Jandiroba, Su Mudaerji and Marco Tulio.
Yair Rodriguez was rewarded for his sensational performance against Patricio Pitbull with £238,000.
Pitbull himself, on his debut for the UFC, earned £154,000, while Dominick Reyes, who knocked out Nikita Krylov received £121,000.
