UFC 263 salaries: Israel Adesanya, Marvin Vettori lead payouts; Nate Diaz pockets $250,000

Israel Adesanya served as the UFC 263 poster boy atop the card and was compensated as such.

UFC 263 took place June 12 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The main card streamed on ESPN pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

MMA Junkie acquired the disclosed fighter salaries from the Arizona Department of Gaming, which oversaw the event, though win bonuses and discretionary bonuses were redacted from the public information request.

Adesanya led all contracted paydays, pocketing $500,000 of show money. His opponent, Marvin Vettori, was the second-highest paid, and he took home $350,000.

Trailing the headliners in the payouts was Nate Diaz, who took home a disclosed purse of $250,000.

UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno earned $100,000 of show money, though his win bonus is unknown. Former champion Deiveson Figueiredo took home $210,000 contracted pay.

Also clearing the six-figure show-money mark was Leon Edwards, who made $110,000 of show money. Former UFC title challenger Demian Maia earned $175,000.

Total disclosed pay for the show was $2,565,000.

Check out the list of UFC 263 athletes’ contracted paydays below:

• Israel Adesanya ($500,000) def. Marvin Vettori ($350,000)

• Brandon Moreno ($100,000) def. Deiveison Figueirdo ($210,000)

• Leon Edwards ($110,000) def. Nate Diaz ($250,000)

• Belal Muhammad ($80,000) def. Demian Maia ($175,000)

• Paul Craig ($55,000) def. Jamahal Hill ($28,000)

• Brad Riddell ($40,000) def. Drew Dober ($87,000)

• Eryk Anders ($75,000) def. Darren Stewart ($45,000)

• Lauren Murphy ($70,000) def. Joanne Calderwood ($51,000)

• Movsar Evloev ($36,000) def. Hakeem Dawodu ($55,000)

• Pannie Kianzad ($28,000) def. Alexis Davis ($43,000)

• Terrance McKinney ($12,000) def. Matt Frevola ($23,000)

• Steven Peterson ($23,000) def. Chase Hooper ($37,000)

• Fares Ziam ($14,000) def. Luigi Vendramini ($15,000)

• Carlos Felipe ($25,000) def. Jake Collier ($28,000)

The figures above 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 263 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 also handed out a “Fight of the Night” bonus to Riddell and Dober – and two $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses to Moreno and Craig.

In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.

Loading...