UFC on Versus 1 salaries: Cheick Kongo ($110K), Junior Dos Santos ($70K) top earners
Main-card fighter Cheick Kongo earned an event-high $110,000 payday, and fellow heavyweight main-card winner Junior Dos Santos earned $70,000 at UFC on Versus 1.MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) recently requested the list of salaries from the Colorado Boxing Commission and today received it from the Colorado Department of
Regulatory Agencies.
The total disclosed payroll for the March 21 event was $713,000.
Kongo, fighting in one of four scheduled fights on the UFC's first-ever Versus-televised event, beat down and forced Paul Buentello into submission. He earned $55,000 to show and $55,000 as a win bonus for the performance. Buentello earned $40,000.
Other top earners from the card included Dos Santos ($70,000), who topped Gabriel Gonzaga ($67,000), main-event loser Brandon Vera ($60,000), and preliminary-card victors Vladimir Matyushenko ($56,000) and Clay Guida ($50,000).
The full payouts included:
Jon Jones: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Vera: $60,000
Junior Dos Santos: $70,000 ($35,000 win bonus)
def. Gabriel Gonzaga: $67,000
Cheick Kongo: $110,000 ($55,000 win bonus)
def. Paul Buentello: $40,000
Alessio Sakara: $42,000 ($21,000 win bonus)
def. James Irvin: $20,000
Clay Guida: $50,000 ($25,000 win bonus)
def. Shannon Gugerty: $9,000
Vladimir Matyushenko: $56,000 ($28,000 win bonus)
def. Eliot Marshall: $10,000
Darren Elkins: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus)
def. Duane Ludwig: $12,000
John Howard: $26,000 ($13,000 win bonus)
def. Daniel Roberts: $6,000
Brendan Schaub: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Chase Gormley: $10,000
Mike Pierce: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus)
def. Julio Paulino: $6,000
Jason Brilz: $18,000 ($9,000 win bonus)
def. Eric Schafer: $13,000
Now, the usual disclaimer: The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter's income. They also do not include any other "locker room" or special bonuses that are not disclosed by the organization.
They also do not include the UFC on Versus 1 bonuses. Breaking from tradition, the UFC issued its customary fight-night bonuses to three "Fight of the Night" winners (Jones, Dos Santos and Howard). Each was worth $50,000. Additionally, a $50,000 "Submission of the Night" award went to Guida, but no "Fight of the Night" bonus was given.
In other words, the above salary figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
For complete coverage of UFC on Versus 1, check out the UFC Events section of MMAjunkie.com.
(Pictured: Cheick Kongo)