The highly anticipated UFC 281 card saw electrifying performances and huge upsets. Let's take a look at how much each fighter made from their performances at Madison Square Garden this past Saturday.
Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya reportedly raked in around $1.79 million from his base pay, pay-per-view shares, and sponsorship deals.
Newly crowned 185lbs champion Alex Pereira earned a purse of $932k from his base pay, Performance of the Night bonus, pay-per-view shares, and sponsorship deals.
Watch Dana White announce the fight bonuses for UFC 281 below:
In the co-main event, Carla Esparza raked in a reported $542k, including pay-per-view shares, while newly crowned strawweight champion Zhang Weili earned a total of $667k, including the Performance of the Night bonus.
Having bagged the Fight of the Night bonus, Dustin Poirier earned a payday of $1.01 million, while his opponent Michael Chandler made a respectable $760k.
In his retirement fight, UFC legend Frankie Edgar earned a total of $295k, while his opponent Chris Gutierrez earned $155k.
Fan-favorite Dan Hooker earned a total fight purse of $325k, while his opponent Claudio Puelles made $41k.
The fight purses of fighters on the prelim and early prelim cards are as follows:
Brad Riddell - $45k
Renato Moicano - $220k
Dominick Reyes - $245k
Ryan Spann - $140k
Molly McCann - $85k
Erin Blanchfield - $49k
Andre Petroski - $45k
Wellington Turman - $41k
Matt Frevola - $77k
Ottman Azaitar - $25k
Karolina Kowalkiewicz - $110k
Silvana Gómez Juárez - $25k
Michael Trizano - $39.8k
Choi Seung-woo - $40.8k
Julio Arce - $31k
Montel Jackson - $65k
Carlos Ulberg - $49k
Nicolae Negumereanu - $35k
(All the above figures are courtesy TOTALSPORTAL)
Some stand-out performances at UFC 281
The biggest upset at UFC 281 was perhaps Alex Pereira's knockout win over Israel Adesanya. Down three rounds to one going into the fifth, a flurry of punches in the final round helped the Brazilian secure a TKO win over Adesanya.
Alex Pereira claimed his maiden UFC championship in his fourth fight with the promotion.
In another fine performance, Zhang Weili became a two-time strawweight champion with a second-round submission win over Carla Esparza.
Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier faced some adversity but eventually locked in a rear-naked choke in the third round to secure a win over Michael Chandler.
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