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In a recent development, it has now been disclosed that middleweight rivals Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori have, in fact, been the most handsomely paid fighters at UFC 263. Notably, partial salaries released on Monday by the Arizona Department of Gaming, which overlooks the state's athletic commission, has disclosed that titleholder Adesanya, who received a sum of $500,000, as well as challenger Vettori, who was paid $350,000, were the top paid fighters on the 14-fight card.
Earlier, Adesanya had emerged with a unanimous decision to defend the middleweight belt as he took a second win over Vettori, who was clearly the second best on the day.
It is worth highlighting that although the win bonuses for previous fight cards held in the state weren’t published by the department, they were redacted this time around for the combat on June 12.
Usually, a UFC fighter’s “show” gets doubled in case of a win. Moreover, headliners — especially those who share in pay-per-view points — tend to take a flat show purse and be presented with additional pay in form of separate agreements with the promotion and pay-per-view splits, neither of which comes under public record.
This suggests that the figures revealed below do not correspond to the actual earning of the fighters since sponsorship incomes and other details aren’t quite disclosed.
Check out the revealed UFC 263 payouts:
Main Card (ESPN+ pay-per-view)
Israel Adesanya ($500,000 + no win bonus = $500,000) def. Marvin Vettori ($350,000)
Brandon Moreno ($100,000 + $100,000 = $200,000) def. Deiveson Figueiredo ($210,000)
Leon Edwards ($110,000 + $110,000 = $220,000) def. Nate Diaz ($250,000)
Belal Muhammad ($80,000 + $80,000 = $160,000) def. Demian Maia ($175,000)
Paul Craig ($55,000 + $55,000 = $110,000) def. Jamahal Hill ($28,000)
Preliminary Card (ESPN)
Brad Riddell ($40,000 + $40,000 = $80,000) def. Drew Dober ($87,000)
Eryk Anders ($75,000 + $75,000 = $150,000) def. Darren Stewart ($45,000)
Lauren Murphy ($70,000 + $70,000 = $140,000) def. Joanne Calderwood ($51,000)
Movsar Evloev ($36,000 + $36,000 = $72,000) def. Hakeem Dawodu ($55,000)
Early Prelims (ESPN+)
Pannie Kianzad ($28,000 + $28,000 = 56,000) def. Alexis Davis ($43,000)
Terrance McKinney ($12,000 + $12,000 = $24,000) def. Matt Frevola ($23,000)
Steven Peterson ($23,000 + $23,000 = $46,000) def. Chase Hooper ($37,000)
Fares Ziam ($14,000 + $14,000 = $28,000) def. Luigi Vendramini ($15,000)
Carlos Felipe ($25,000 + $25,000 = $50,000) def. Jake Collier ($28,000)