UFC 297 Payouts: Who’s Getting Paid Big in Toronto?

Unlike most pay-per-view events, we do not expect the UFC 297 payouts to be that big. This card lacks the superstar factor and apart from the two championship fights, we will see more low-tier bouts. Here is what we know.

UFC Fighter Pay: What Will Strickland vs Du Plessis Be Paid at UFC 297?

Sean Strickland Career Earnings: Fight by Fight

Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis gained recognition in the last couple of years but they are far from the star level of other top-ranked fighters in the promotion. Sean Strickland earned well from his title match against Israel Adesanya but will he earn this much against a far less attractive figure like Du Plessis?

Sean Strickland has actually been in the UFC for almost ten years but he only gained attention around 2020 when he beat Brendan Allen with a brutal TKO. Fortunately, there have been solid reports about his previous earnings and we can estimate his potential purse with confidence.

His first payday above $100,000 was exactly against Allen in 2020. Back then, he earned $144,000 as a guaranteed purse. Curiously, he did not receive a raise in his next match and earned $99,000 for his match against Krzysztof Jotko. What followed was a $131,000 purse against Uriah Hall and $141,000 against Jack Hermansson.

While he lost the next two bouts against Alex Pereira and Jared Cannonier in July and December 2022, he got paid well – $144,000 and $216,000, his biggest payday to date.

He got paid $321,000 per bout for the two matches that earned him a title shot against Israel Adesanya. And this is when things got serious. While this information is unofficial, Sean Strickland apparently earned at least $1.38 million total. This includes at least $500,000 as a guaranteed purse and the rest came from his PPV share and the win bonus.

As the champion now, we envision a slight increase but we definitely do not expect more than $1 million, for example. We feel like the mil is a solid prediction for the UFC 297 payouts.

Dricus Du Plessis Career Earnings: Fight by Fight

Dricus joined the UFC in late 2020 and quickly impressed the whole community with his unbelievable performances. As a former EFC Middleweight, EFC Welterweight, and KSW Welterweight champion, the expectations were already high when he got signed and he wasted no time proving that he would be the next contender in the division.

He fought six times in the UFC and won all six bouts (4 knockouts, 1 submission, 1 decision). Based on the reports we have about his earnings, he will definitely have his biggest payday on Saturday.

There is no information about his debut match but he allegedly earned $103,000 for his bout against Trevin Giles. Surprisingly, reports claim that he got paid only $32,000 for his next bout against Brad Tavares and it makes zero sense. True or not, he was paid $102,000 against Darren Till and $104,500 against Derek Brunson. Nothing too impressive.

In his last bout against Robert Whittaker, he reportedly earned at least $225,000 as a guaranteed purse. How much can he possibly earn for a title match?

Given that Strickland allegedly got at least $500,000 in his first title shot against Adesanya, we believe that Dricus Du Plessis will at least earn that much too. Moreover, we have seen this sum again and again after previous title matches.

UFC Payouts: What the Rest of the Card Can Expect

Overall, this card is not as star-packed or attractive as the typical PPV event. This means that the overall UFC 297 payouts will be lower than usual too. We researched the career earnings of the other main card bouts and reached the following conclusions:

• Sean Strickland – $1 million
• Dricus Du Plessis – $500,000
• Raquel Pennington – $250,000
• Mayra Bueno Silva – $250,000
• Neil Magny – $111,000
• Mike Malott – $66,000
• Chris Curtis – $85,000
• Marc-Andre Barriault – $85,000
• Arnold Allen – $100,000
• Movsar Evloev – $85,000

With this said, we have to disclose that these are our predictions for the UFC 297 payouts and not the actual sums. All the figures you see above are based on the previous purses of each fighter and the traditional figures we see on UFC contracts. However, we feel quite confident in our predictions.