UFC 290 Payouts: Big Fights, Big Paydays

A question on most people’s minds is “How will the UFC 290 payouts look?”. Well, we’ve got you covered. After doing some research on recent base pays and contracts that fighters are under, we’ve got a good idea of what the UFC 290 main card fighters will be making after their fights this weekend.

UFC fighter pay is always, and will probably always be, a hot topic. So, why not talk about it? As far as the main card goes, the UFC 290 prize money is looking pretty good, and why wouldn’t it? The main card has so much talent on it. So continue reading to get a general idea of this weekend’s UFC payouts. This will all be educated assumptions of the base pay, no UFC bonuses, PPV points or sponsorship money will be involved unless mentioned.

UFC Fighter Pay: What Will Volkanovski and Rodriguez be Paid at UFC 290?

Dec 14, 2019; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Max Holloway (red gloves) fights Alexander Volkanovski (blue gloves) during UFC 245 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA
Photo by Icon Sport

Volkanovski, arguably the greatest featherweight of all time and the second best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet deserves the big bucks. For his last bout, when he went up to lightweight to fight Islam Makhachev and lost a controversial decision, Volk reportedly made around the 1.3 million dollar mark for his efforts.

Coming into this title defense back at his home of 145lbs, it’s looking like the champ will retain his base pay of a million dollars. Again, this is before and UFC bonuses or sponsorship money. When you’ve held a title for so long and done it with such dominance, there should be no issue regarding UFC fighter pay; and here, there isn’t.

Yair Rodriguez is expected to make around the $500,000 mark for this title unification bout. This isn’t bad, especially when considering that there’s much more money to be made after the fight is done, especially if Rodriguez can score the upset win and make that win bonus.

That’s not it for the title fight payouts. Brandon Moreno will not only look to hold onto his spot at the 125lb throne, but he’ll also be looking to finally get a win over Alexandre Pantoja. Pantoja has a win over Moreno whilst competing in The Ultimate Fighter and also a win over him in the UFC.

The flyweight champion’s UFC 290 prize money, as far as base pay goes, is around $300,000. The challenger is looking at about $150,000 as a base pay. So, the trend for the UFC 290 payouts is the challenger’s base pay is around half of what the incumbent title holder is making. Not bad, not bad!

UFC Payouts: What the Rest of the Card Can Expect

Brandon Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja are set to do battle for the fourth time at UFC 290. (Image Credit: Yahoo Sports)

As far as the UFC 290 payouts for the rest of the main card, we’re still looking at some big bucks being spent on some big names. Some of these fighters were hard to really hone in on a number for, particularly the late-replacement and UFC debuting, Val Woodburn. It’s his first fight, but wow, what a stage he’s stepped up to and what a fight he’s saving.

• Alexander Volkanovksi – $1,000,000
• Yair Rodriguez – $500,000
• Brandon Moreno – $300,000
• Alexandre Pantoja – $150,000
• Robert Whittaker – $250,000
• Driscus Du Plessis – $75,000
• Jalin Turner – $72,000
• Dan Hooker – $160,000
• Bo Nickal – $60,000
• Val Woodburn – $24,000

These are the reported base pays for the UFC 290 main card fighters. Pretty good looks here for UFC fighter pay, but this is the main card’s money only. Again, the UFC prize money does not stop there; sponsorships, UFC bonuses and many other things could increase or decrease the numbers we’ve gathered.

The these UFC payouts are indicative to anything, it’s a very fun night of fights. Two titles are on the lane, a bunch of undefeated records are being put to the test, and that’s all without even mentioning that Dan Hooker and Jalin Turner are fighting each other. Tune in here with us tomorrow for some live coverage and commentary of the main card. Catch you then!