The UFC capped off 2024 with UFC Tampa last night and it was a successful venture in more than one way. After all, it became the highest-grossing North American fight Night card in the Dana White-led promotion’s three-decade history. While a section of fans was somewhat disappointed at the main event between Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley being stopped by the doctor, the rest of the card more than made up for it.

After all, most of the fights ended via stoppage, none more spectacularly than the co-main event. There, fan-favorite brawler Cub Swanson stopped the ever-exciting Billy Quarantillo in the third round and hinted at his retirement at age 41. The card has garnered an unusually high (for a Fight Night event) level of interest among the fans because of the interesting main and co-main events. This is why in this article, we take a look at the Compliance Pay for the fighters on the card.

How much did Joaquin Buckley, Cub Swanson, and their opponents make in Compliance Pay?

Joaquin Buckley battered Colby Covington for three rounds to win the bout via a doctor’s stoppage. With this victory, he is now firmly on the lower rungs of the title ladder, with a title shot in the near future if he continues his stellar run. While Dana White wasn’t too happy with the doctor’s decision to stop the fight, it was clear that ‘New Mansa’ had the upper hand in the fight.

And for his troubles, Buckley made $11,000 in compliance pay, while his opponent, Covington got $16,000. Of course, some fans may be surprised to learn that this was about half of what Cub Swanson made in Compliance Pay. After all, co-main eventers do not usually make more than their counterparts in the main event.

But that is in the case of the overall purses, not Compliance Pay, as we will see in more detail later. Swanson, of course, is a veteran of the UFC, having fought twenty-five times in the promotion and made $21,000 in Compliance Pay for his probable last UFC outing. This is because Compliance Pay is uniform across tiers, with these tiers based upon one specific criteria. What exactly? Well, let’s take a look, and discuss the intricacy of the whole program.

How does UFC’s Compliance Pay work?

Compliance Pay is based on how many bouts a fighter has had in the Dana White-led promotion. For non-title clashes, there are six tiers starting from $4,000 for fighters with three or fewer UFC appearances. Fighters get paid more as they have more fights until they finally reach the highest level, where they get $21,000 after they have had twenty-one or more fights in the promotion.

On the other hand, champions and title challengers have an entirely separate tier. All UFC champs get $42,000 in Compliance Pay, while contenders make $32,000 in all title fights. Compliance Pay is actually paid by the UFC’s outfitting partner, Venum, with the promotion (and the athletic commissions) only being responsible for disbursing the funds.

For UFC Tampa, Venum coughed up $208,500, taking the 2024 total Compliance Payout to a respectable $8.28 million. The lifetime payout of this program (which started in 2021) has crossed $31 million. Of course, it is worth mentioning that Compliance Payout is a somewhat controversial topic. After all, it is because of the UFC’s deal with Venum (and previously Reebok) that fighters are not allowed to advertise on their gear, which took away a significant source of income for the fighters. What do you think about the Compliance Pay for UFC Tampa?