Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington will make the same disclosed salaries for their welterweight championship grudge match at UFC 245.
Current titleholder Usman (15-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) and challenger Covington (15-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) are both contracted to receive flat $500,000 salaries for Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
MMA Junkie received the UFC 245 payout sheet on Friday from the Nevada Athletic Commission, which sanctions the event.
The co-main event title fight also will pay out flat rates. Reigning featherweight champion Max Holloway (21-4 MMA, 17-4 UFC) has a deal that pays $350,000. Challenger, Alexander Volkanovski (20-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is set to receive $250,000, win or lose, in his first UFC title fight.
Dual-UFC champ Amanda Nunes (18-4 MMA, 11-1 UFC) is on a bit of a different deal. The Brazilian, who puts her women’s bantamweight title on the line, is set to receive $350,000 to show with a $100,000 win bonus attached. Her challenger, Germaine de Randamie (9-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), nets a flat rate of $100,000.
Other notable salaries from the UFC 245 main card include former longtime UFC champ Jose Aldo (28-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who makes $400,000 to show with a potential $50,000 win bonus. His opponent, Marlon Moraes (22-6-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC), makes $110,000 with the chance to double his money with a $110,000 win bonus.
UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber (35-10 MMA, 11-6 UFC), who opens the main card, will receive a flat rate of $250,000. That’s significantly more than his opponent Petr Yan (13-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who makes $66,000 to show with another $66,000 on the hook if he wins.
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, including the official UFC 245 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. They also do not include pay-per-view cuts that some top-level fighters receive.
For example, UFC officials will hand out additional $50,000 bonuses for “Performance of the Night” and/or “Fight of the Night” honors.
In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
