Payout of Over $22 Million Confirmed as Dana White Hands Leon Edwards, Colby Covington & Others Their Compliance Pay After UFC 296

A lot was on the line at UFC 296. With the main event featuring Leon Edwards versus Colby Covington for the Welterweight title, (almost) all eyes were on them. Given a match-up like this, the anticipation for it was palpable. But in a match that failed to live up to its billing, Edwards defended his title via unanimous decision (49-46 49-46 49-46). He took home the Welterweight champion belt, but that wasn’t the only thing.

The Brit exited the T-Mobile Arena with $10,000 more in his purse than Covington. And that was all thanks to UFC’s compliance pay. This is one of the many components of a fighter’s pay. After the UFC’s last PPV event for the year, let us look at how exactly fighter pay is determined and how much the stars got paid in compliance pay for UFC 296.

How much did fighters make in compliance pay for UFC 296?

Reigning welterweight champion Leon Edwards got $42,000, while the challenger, Colby Covington, got paid $32,000 for their UFC 296 main event bout. But why the disparity, apart from the apparent win for Edwards? Athletes are paid based on their UFC experience and ranking and their adherence to media and promotional obligations under the Dana White-led UFC’s compliance pay plan. Levels of compliance pay are determined by a fighter’s total number of UFC fights—including matches from the Zuffa period, the WEC, and Strikeforce.

For every appearance, fighters with 3 or fewer fights receive $4,000. $4,500 is awarded to fighters with 4 to 5 fights. Fighters with 6 to 10 fights get $6,000, while those with eleven to fifteen bouts receive $11,000. The reward is $16,000 for competitors with 16–20 bouts of experience. Meanwhile, competitors who have competed in 21 or more UFC events get paid $21,000, as per MMA Junkie. In title fights, champions receive $42,000 for each battle, while their opponents receive $32,000. While Rocky and Chaos headlined UFC 296, they weren’t the only ones going against each other.

For the co-main event, Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja made $42,000, while his opponent Brandon Royval got $32,000. Shavkat Rakhmonov made $6,000 for his Welterweight bout against Stephen’ Wonderboy’ Thompson, who was paid $16,000 in compliance pay. Former interim Lightweight champion Tony Ferguson made $21,000, and his opponent, Paddy’ The Baddy’ Pimblett, got $4,500 under the guidelines. UFC 296’s winnings added up to $339,500, and in the bigger picture, it contributed to a program-to-date total of $22,707,000.

Despite the underwhelming main event, there were some excellent fights on the card that were awarded bonuses by the UFC, over and above the fighters’ compliance pay.

The UFC handed out 5 bonuses for UFC 296

UFC boss Dana White announced that the promotion was handing out five bonuses for UFC 296. Five fighters took home $50,000 extra, with bonuses for “Fight of the Night,” and “Performance of the Night,” which included one for one of the most vicious knockouts of 2023.

For their women’s flyweight battle, Irene Aldana and Karol Rosa were awarded Fight of the Night honors, with Aldana getting a hard-fought win. Josh Emmett got his $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his scary knockout of Bryce Mitchell, which left the latter convulsing on the ground.

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Ariane Lipski’s second-round submission of Casey O’Neill secured her a performance bonus as well. The final recipient was Shamil Gaziev, who knocked out Martin Buday in the second round of their heavyweight bout for a $50,000 addition to his purse.

What did you think about UFC 296? Let us know in the comments section below.

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