Cory Sandhagen has his eyes on the title shot while Umar Nurmagomedov aims to break into the Top 5 by defeating his greatest challenge. But how much are the two going to earn from headlining this event and does the special location mean bigger salaries? Here is everything we know about the UFC Abu Dhabi payouts.
UFC Fighter Pay: What Will Sandhagen vs Nurmagomedov Be Paid in Abu Dhabi?
Given his incredible rise through the Bantamweight rankings, Cory Sandhagen has been making more and more money with every fight. But he is yet to reach the level of the highest-paid athletes in this division. There is limited information about his most recent bouts, but we can reach a conclusion based on his earlier salaries and the average purses of UFC fighters of his caliber.
Starting from his earliest career days in the promotion, he wasn’t even making enough to pay for a full fight camp. His first three fights brought him less than $50,000 together. His first significant payday was when he faced Raphael Assuncao in 2019, earning $77,000 as base pay.
The UFC Bantamweight title eliminator against Aljamain Sterling and the three bouts that followed brought him between $80,000-90,000 each but these salaries do not include the win bonuses and sponsorships.
His first major payday occured when he faced Petr Yan for the interim UFC Bantamweight Championship in late 2021. Although he lost that bout, his salary never went down again and he has been earning at least $150,000 per fight since then.
Considering that he is on a three-fight win streak since then and has been headlining every event he fought at, Sandhagen may be entitled to a considerable purse from the UFC Abu Dhabi payouts.
As previously mentioned, the data regarding his last couple of bouts is inconclusive and we can’t give exact figures. But considering his win streak and the fact that he headlines yet another event, we expect Sandhagen to earn at least $200,000 in Abu Dhabi.
On paper, this is a strange bout as it faces the #2 vs the #10 in the division. As talented as Umar Nurmagomedov may be, he has not yet reached the stardom level and we doubt that he will make that much money on Saturday.
This will be his sixth appearance in the Octagon and he has never faced an opponent quite like Sandhagen. His salary record is a mystery and we only know that he made about $50,000 from his bout against Raoni Barcelos in early 2023.
He may have received a pay increase for his most recent match in March 2024 but it is unlikely that it was substantial. All in all, we expect Umar Nurmagomedov to make around $100,000 from the UFC Abu Dhabi payouts. Anything more than that would be unusual.
UFC Payouts: What the Rest of the Card Can Expect
Like we said in our early predictions, this card is absolutely stacked for a Fight Night. There are former champions and Interim title holders, as well as several title contenders.
Take Deiveson Figueiredo, for example. A former champion who used to earn $250,000 per fight. He is no longer on that level but we expect him to bring at least $100,000 home from his bout against Marlon Vera. At the same time, Vera fought for the title last year and made a fortune. He should get at least $150,000 for this bout if not a lot more.
We also have Tony Ferguson, who continues to make between $200-300,000 per fight, despite losing seven in a row. Expect him to get at least $200k on Saturday again.
Overall, the UFC Abu Dhabi payouts will be considerable given the elite status of multiple fighters on the card. Expect this to be one of the best events of the calendar year.
Vlad is a former amateur MMA fighter. After a series of injuries, he found a different way to connect with the sport and its fanbase - through writing. He's been covering everything-UFC for over 5 years on various platforms and has been part of the team at NYFights since early 2022.