UFC 305 Payouts: Who’s Getting Paid What In Perth?
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Vladislav Tchakarov
Many former fighters have had their say about the salaries in the UFC. The popular opinion is that even the best fighters in the promotion are underpaid. Well, Israel Adesanya is not one of them. He gets millions per fight and is one of the all-time highest earners. This makes the UFC 305 payouts even more interesting. Let's discuss the expected purses.
UFC Fighter Pay: What Will Du Plessis vs Adesanya Be Paid In Perth?
Let's start with the brand new champion as his case will be easier to explain. Dricus Du Plessis joined the UFC in 2020 and won every single fight on his way to the title shot. However, his young career in the promotion also means that he has not been making a lot of money from his fights. Even when he faced Strickland for the Middleweight title, his purse was lower than the average for a title bout.
His earliest purses were in the range of $16,000-24,000 and he only started making money when he became ranked. Du Plessis earned $300,000 for his fight with Derek Brunson and then just $100,000 when he beat Robert Whittaker in mid-2023.
Regarding his most recent fight with Sean Strickland for the title, the final figures remain unclear. Some outlets reported that Du Plessis made around $1 million for his fight but the most reliable sources suggest that his purse was closer to $300,000. Generally, this is lower than the typical $500k that most contenders get paid.
Based on these numbers, we can confidently claim that Israel Adesanya will be the highest earner from the UFC 305 payouts, despite being the contender. And we expect Du Plessis to bag around $1,000,000 in Perth. This is the most common purse size for a new champion.
But when it comes to Adesanya, his previous earnings during his reign were on a different level. This will be his 12th consecutive title bout in the UFC. As a two-time Middleweight champion, Adesanya was undefeated in this weight class between his debut in 2018 and his first defeat to Pereira in late 2022. He was on a 12-win streak and was making big money.
We can't give any official numbers but Adesanya has earned more than $20 million from his fights, including the PPV payouts and the win bonuses.
His latest purse from a year ago from the Strickland fight hasn't been disclosed but we have confirmations about his previous salaries. He made $2 million for each of the Pereira fights, $1.5 million when he beat Jared Cannonier and a million versus Robert Whittaker. And these were his base salaries.
As he is no longer the champion but remains one of the biggest stars in the promotion, we expect Adesanya to earn around $1.5 million from the UFC 305 payouts. There is a possibility that he failed to secure a good contract for this fight and we are overestimating his salary but he should earn more than Du Plessis, who is not yet very popular among the public. There is a good chance that the Du Plessis vs Adesanya purse will be the highest of 2024.
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.
