10 of the highest paid UFC fighters of all time
MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and being the largest organization, the UFC drives a big chunk of this growth. The sport has steadily grown in popularity and there seems to be a lot of curiosity among fight fans to know how much UFC fighters earn.
A UFC fighter puts his health and longevity at risk every time he steps inside the cage to entertain fight fans. UFC fighter pay has been one of the most controversial topics in the MMA community, especially while talking about fighters at the lower end of the hierarchy.
But no profession can be unforgiving for the entire workforce and MMA or UFC is not an exception to this rule. Many UFC fighters have earned life-changing money from fighting and in this article, we take a closer look at the 10 highest-paid fighters in UFC history.
The figures presented represent only fighter salaries from the fights and do not include pay-per-view points, sponsorship money or other sources of income and have been collated from data published in sources like Statista and GQ Australia.
10. Donald Cerrone - $7,100,000
Donald Cerrone was and still is one of the most fan-favorite fighters in UFC history. Cerrone was hailed for his exciting fighting style and seldom found himself in boring fights. He was a part of the WEC and the UFC roster for more than a decade and competed against some of the most elite fighters of his generation.
At the peak of his career, Cerrone was known for his ferocious activity level and competed more frequently than most of his peers. While he never became a UFC champion, Cerrone remained on the must-watch list of hardcore as well as casual MMA fans for as long as he competed.
Cerrone won a whopping 17 performance bonuses during his career and strung four bonus-winning performances on two separate occasions. As a result, fans never missed the opportunity to pay for a Cerrone fight. The UFC did not hesitate to pay him handsomely as Cerrone earned upwards of $7.1 million in earnings from his UFC fights.