Bellator 286 Salaries: Pitbull Banks $150k To Defend Strap

The latest Bellator event from Long Beach, California featured six fighters making six figure salaries, and several making less than five grand.

Bellator 286 just went down from Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California and that means we’ve got the official fighter purses from the event care of the California State Athletic Commission.

That’s right, you don’t have to rely on sketchy Twitter or Instagram accounts claiming to know what fighters are making. The California commission collects and releases the legit pay figures from promotions to licensed fighters. It’s all part of an attempt to give fighters more clarity in knowing what their fellow athletes make, so they can negotiate fairer deals.

So of course the practice has been getting chipped away at for years. Nevada went dark on pay figures back in 2020, and Arizona followed suit in 2022. At this point California is the last major commission to continue to practice, which is a real shame because it’s clear the major fight promotions do not want anyone knowing the particulars of fighter pay.

Back to Bellator 286. RIght off the bat, the most interesting thing to see is both headliners making a flat purse with no win bonus. Featherweight champ Patricio Pitbull made $150,000 and challenger Adam Borics made $100,000 — both numbers being the same, win or lose. The other six-figure fighters on the card were Jeremy Kennedy ($110,000), Aaron Pico ($100,000), A.J. McKee ($100,000), and Juan Archuleta ($100,000).

A.J. McKee was another man getting paid straight with no win bonus, while his opponent Spike Carlyle left with just $50,000 in show money, minus 20% of his purse for missing weight on a potentially screwy commission scale. And all the way at the bottom of the Bellator payscale we have several fighters making $3000 to show and $3000 to win.

Take a look at the full fighter pay figures for Bellator 286 below:

• Patricio Pitbull ($150,000 + no win bonus = $150,000) vs. Adam Borics ($100,000)
• A.J. McKee ($100,000 + no win bonus = $100,000) def. Spike Carlyle ($50,000)
• Jeremy Kennedy ($55,000 + $55,000 win bonus = $110,000) def. Aaron Pico ($100,000)
• Juan Archuleta ($100,000 + no win bonus = $100,000) def. Enrique Barzola ($31,000)
• Bobby Seronio III ($3,000 + $3,000 win bonus = $6,000) vs. Miguel Peimbert ($3,000)
• Islam Mamedov ($40,000 + $40,000 win bonus = $80,000) vs. Nick Browne ($24,000)
• Jay Jay Wilson ($35,000 + $35,000 win bonus = $70,000) vs. Vladimir Tokov ($23,000)
• Khalid Murtazaliev ($20,000 + $20,000 win bonus = $40,000) def. Khadzhimurat Bestaev ($13,000)
• Sumiko Inaba ($12,000 + $12,000 win bonus = $24,000) vs. Nadine Mandiau ($3,000)
• Weber Almeida ($18,000 + $18,000 win bonus = $36,000) vs. Ryan Lilley ($5,000)
• Lance Gibson Jr. ($15,000 + no win bonus = $15,000) vs. Dominic Clark ($7,000)
• Cee Jay Hamilton ($15,000 + $15,000 win bonus = $30,000) vs. Richard Palencia ($15,000)