UFC on ESPN+ 29 salaries: Andrei Arlovski pockets biggest disclosed payday
Veteran fighters Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell and Glover Teixeira walked away from UFC on ESPN+ 29 having pocketed a solid chunk of change Wednesday.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Arlovski (29-9 MMA, 18-13 UFC) led all fighters with a disclosed payout of $325,000 for his win over Philipe Lins. As a result of his split decision win over Ovince Saint Preux, Rothwell (38-12 MMA, 8-6 UFC) earned $260,000. For his fifth-round TKO win over Anthony Smith, Teixeira (31-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) earned $230,000.
Two other victorious fighters also took home six-figure disclosed paydays: including the aforementioned Smith, as well as UFC lightweight Drew Dober.
The disclosed UFC on ESPN+ 29 salaries from the Florida State Boxing Commission, which oversaw the event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., first were reported by MMA Fighting.
The full list of UFC on ESPN+ 29 salaries included:
- Glover Teixeira: $230,000
def. Anthony Smith: $130,000 - Ben Rothwell: $260,000
def. Ovince Saint Preux: $95,000 - Drew Dober: $116,000
def. Alexander Hernandez: $36,000 - Ricky Simon: $60,000
def. Ray Borg: $46,000 - Andrei Arlovski: $325,000
def. Philipe Lins: $80,000 - Thiago Moises: $24,000
def. Michael Johnson: $83,000 - Sijara Eubanks: $66,000
def. Sarah Moras: $23,000 - Omar Morales: $24,000
def. Gabriel Benitez: $40,000 - Brian Kelleher: $60,000
def. Hunter Azure: $12,000 - Chase Sherman: $28,000
def. Ike Villanueva: $12,000
The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, including the official UFC on ESPN+ 29 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC sometimes pays. They also do not include pay-per-view cuts that some top-level fighters receive.
For example, UFC officials handed out additional $50,000 UFC 249 fight-night bonuses to Teixeira and Dober for “Performance of the Night,” and Azure and Kelleher for “Fight of the Night.”
In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
UFC on ESPN+ 29 salaries: Andrei Arlovski pockets biggest disclosed payday
