The UFC 303 payouts are guaranteed to be high. After all, nearly half the fighters agreed to fight on short notice. But exactly how much will the big names make from this event? Here is everything we know so far.
UFC Fighter Pay: What Will Pereira vs Prochazka Be Paid At UFC 303?
Alex Pereira joined the roster in 2021 and in three years has earned more money than the majority of the fighters in their entire careers. And he definitely deserves it and more. After all, he became a double champ after just seven fights in the promotion.
He was already earning millions before this event and he accepted to defend his belt on short notice. This must mean something for his salary, right? Let’s take a closer look at his earnings.
Pereira made his UFC debut against Andreas Michailidis in 2021 and got paid $50,000 as base pay. This is already way more than what most fighters earn in their first few fights but he is a former kickboxing world champion, so he was already a big name in martial arts.
He earned the same amount for his second fight against Bruno Silva in March 2022 and then $90,000 when he faced Sean Strickland in July 2022. At this point, he was named the next title contender for the Middleweight title and his salary went through the roof.
He faced the champion in November 2022 and got $300,000 as a guaranteed purse. Combined with the win bonus, he made a total of $682,000.
From then on, his salaries have never gone below the million mark. This is the usual minimal salary for a male champion in the UFC. Of course, fighters usually get paid more when after multiple defenses, and the UFC 303 payouts are guaranteed to be much higher.
Pereira got the same $1,000,000 for his rematch against Adesanya and his first title fight against Jiri Prochazka.
His last appearance in the Octagon was at UFC 300 when he defended his light heavyweight championship against Jamahal Hill. For this fight, he had a guaranteed purse of $1.2 million, which is already more than the standard for a champion.
And with this rematch against Prochazka getting scheduled at the last minute, we expect an even higher purse. Alex Pereira should make at least $1,500,000 as a guaranteed purse at UFC 303.
As for Jiri Prochazka, he has not been as lucky as Pereira with the paychecks and his highest purse actually came after their first clash. For reference, the two met in November 2023 at UFC 295, and ‘BJP’ earned a base salary of $750,000.
Since he lost, his last bout at UFC 300 brought him only $200,000 as a guaranteed purse. But we shouldn’t worry about him, he is definitely getting a big raise for this rematch too.
We believe that Jiri Prochazka will make at least $750,000 from the UFC 303 payouts. The usual standard purse for title contenders is around $500,000 but this is a special case.
UFC Payouts: What the Rest of the Card Can Expect
Three of the five fights on the main card got replaced and we have several other fighters that will make good money on Saturday. Brian Ortega, for instance, is one of the most experienced fighters at featherweight and he always makes good money.
We expect him to bring at least $300,000 home from this fight. And more importantly, he revealed that he only accepted this fight in order to donate $100,000 to Fearless Church.
As for his opponent, Diego Lopes, he is yet to join the high-paid athletes in the division but this event could be the turning point. Lopes reportedly got paid $100,000 for his win against Sodiq Yusuff earlier this year. After accepting to fight this week on short notice, we expect him to earn at least $150,000 from the UFC 303 payouts.
The Future never fails to deliver 💥 @IanGarryMMA kicks off the #UFC303 main card!
Among the other notable names, Mayra Bueno Silva is probably going to make at least $150,000, the same as her last salary at UFC 297. Ian Machado Garry should make at least $110k or more after his most recent win. Last but not least, Michael Page returns for his second UFC fight and we expect a base salary between $100-150k.
Other fighters on this card deserve a mention as well but the information about their past earnings is limited. We would rather limit ourselves to the salaries we can predict with a certain degree of confidence.
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.
