10 Highest Fighter Payouts in UFC History [Ranked]

Jon Jones returned to action for the first time in more than 18 months when he successfully defended his heavyweight championship against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on Saturday night.

The 37-year-old has made it clear that he is only interested in big-money fights at this point in his career – and the promotion responded by rewarding him with the biggest payday of his professional career for his efforts at Madison Square Garden. A total of four fighters banked a seven-figure sum on the card, but nobody raked in more than ‘Bones’.

So well compensated was the American that his purse was one of the biggest ever paid out by the world’s leading MMA organisation. Below, per The Sportster and Bet MGM (unless otherwise stated) is a breakdown of the 10 highest individual purses in UFC history. Jones has certainly joined some elite company.

10 Anderson Silva (vs Chris Weidman 2)

UFC 168 – $4,374,326

Anderson Silva was paid handsomely to return to the Octagon in December 2013 and try and regain the UFC Middleweight Championship from Chris Weidman. Having lost to the Long Island favourite just months earlier via a shocking second round knockout, ‘The Spider’ walked into the MGM Grand in Las Vegas intent on revenge.

What should have been a shot at redemption turned into a nightmare for the Brazilian, though, as he suffered a brutal break in his left leg during the second round. The fight was immediately halted due to injury, meaning Silva lost consecutive fights for the first time in his career. He would never challenge for UFC gold again.

9 Conor McGregor (vs Jose Aldo)

UFC 194 – $4,476,662

McGregor’s name will appear many times on this list, but his 13-second demolition of long-time featherweight champion Jose Aldo might well be the greatest performance of his UFC career. ‘The Notorious’ would go on to earn bigger purses, but has struggled to match the aura that he had in the Octagon at UFC 194 in December 2015.

Aldo was never truly the same fighter after the humbling defeat. Heading into the bout, he had been unbeaten for 10 years and won 18 straight contests. McGregor ended those streaks in devastating fashion.

8 Ronda Rousey (vs Holly Holm)

UFC 193 – $4,536,932

Speaking of streaks that were ended in devastating fashion, Holly Holm handed Ronda Rousey her first-ever MMA defeat in November 2015 – and sent shockwaves around the world in the process.

Ronda was such a huge name at the time that she was able to command a record purse for a female fighter (at the time) to make the trip to Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia to defend her women’s bantamweight championship against Holm.

12-0 heading into the bout, Rousey was a massive favourite to record a routine defence. Holm, however, had different ideas, pulling off the upset after landing a vicious head kick on the biggest female star the sport had ever seen.

7 Ronda Rousey (vs Amanda Nunes)

UFC 207 – $4,879,766

It took her more than a year, but Rousey eventually made her comeback to the UFC after her humbling loss at the hands of Holm. By this point, the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship belonged to Amanda Nunes, but Ronda seemingly didn’t care who held her former title. She simply wanted it back.

The UFC wanted Ronda back, too, paying her an even bigger sum than she had received for the Holm fight, as well as taking the unprecendented step of allowing her not to do any pre-fight media.

It was all designed to set up a glorious return, but the fight would wind up being Rousey’s last in the Octagon. Looking completely out of her depth from the very start of the contest, Ronda was stopped in just 48 seconds – and has not been to a UFC event in person since.

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6 Conor McGregor (vs Dustin Poirier 3)

UFC 264 – $5,011,000

McGregor and Poirier were locked at 1-1 in their series of battles against each other when they entered the Octagon in July 2021. Although ‘The Diamond’ had come out on top in their second meeting, it was the Irish superstar who commanded the bigger share of the purse. In the build-up to the contest at T-Mobile Arena, Conor vowed to make short work of Poirier and move on to once again become a UFC champion.

Those plans were put on hold indefinitely, though, when McGregor suffered a broken lower tibia in his left shin at the end of the first round. Although he immediately claimed he would bounce back during a bizarre post-fight interview with Joe Rogan on the floor of the Octagon, the former two-division world champion has yet to fight again. He has now been away from the sport for over three years.

5 Conor McGregor (vs Nate Diaz)

UFC 196 – $5,576,315

One of the character traits that made McGregor such a hit with fans in the early years of his UFC run was his willingness to seemingly fight anyone at any time. Nowhere was this better proven than in the main event of UFC 196 in March 2016.

Conor was originally supposed to face Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship at the pay-per-view event. However, when the Brazilian was forced to pull out of the fight on just a few weeks’ notice, McGregor insisted that he wanted to remain on the card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – and would face anyone the company could find for him to fight.

Understandably, after making such a gesture, ‘The Notorious’ was well-paid for his clash against Nate Diaz, which took place in the 170lb welterweight division – a weight class higher than McGregor had been training for. Diaz hadn’t been training at all when he got the call to fight Conor on short notice, but made use of his size, reach and durability advantages to pull off the upset and win by submission late in the second round.

4 Conor McGregor (vs Nate Diaz 2)

UFC 202 – $5,615,490

Having lost the first fight in emphatic fashion, it should come as no surprise that McGregor wanted a rematch with Diaz. He got it at UFC 202 in August 2016, where he insisted that the pair meet under exactly the same rules as they had the first time out – a welterweight contest over five rounds.

What followed was one of the most absorbing UFC bouts in history, which Conor by decision. The event was also a massive commercial success, ranking as one of the top three biggest-selling pay-per-view shows that the promotion has ever produced.

3 Jon Jones (vs Stipe Miocic)

UFC 309 – $6,292,000

Jones and Miocic finally met for the heavyweight title at UFC 309, having previously been scheduled to face off at UFC 295 in November 2023. That planned date had to be abandoned due to a pectoral injury suffered by Jones.

Despite calls from many to move on from the fight and have ‘Bones’ face interim heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall, instead, Dana White refused to budge, insisting that former titleholder Stipe deserved another shot at his former gold. The 12-month delay did Miocic no favours and – at 42 years old – he struggled badly to get close enough to Jones to cause his opponent any real damage.

For large portions of the contest, it seemed like Jones would be able to end proceedings at a time of his choosing. When the finish came, it was brutal. Jones felled his foe with a perfectly-placed spinning back-kick to the body, retaining his title, as well as adding to his legacy and bank balance.

2 Conor McGregor (vs Eddie Alvarez)

UFC 205 – $6,812,374

While New York has now become a regular stop on the annual UFC calendar, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when the sport of MMA was banned in the state. After years of campaigning, Dana White and his team were finally able to convince local politicians to change course and legalise the UFC in New York.

Now with the opportunity to run shows at the iconic Madison Square Garden, the promotion was always going to want to present the biggest main event possible on its first night in the venue.

When it came to huge stars, nobody outshone McGregor, particularly back in late 2016. Keen to deliver a blockbuster headliner, the then-UFC Featherweight Champion was offered the chance to challenge UFC Lightweight Champion, Eddie Alvarez in a bout where victory would see the Irishman become the first individual to hold two UFC world titles at the same time.

Three other fighters have achieved ‘Champ Champ’ status since, but McGregor was the original. He seized the 155lb strap by blitzing Alvarez in two rounds, walking away with two belts, as well as a hefty payday.

1 Brock Lesnar (vs Mark Hunt)

UFC 200 – $8,000,000

Just as the UFC wanted a special attraction for their first show in Madison Square Garden, the company also wanted to pull out all the stops for UFC 200 in July 2016. For various reasons, the likes of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey were unavailable to compete and despite having a stacked card on paper, featuring multiple title fights, Dana White still yearned to do more to make the landmark event feel special.

His final big-name addition to the show ended up being former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar. While Brock had been a massive star for the UFC between 2008 and 2011, it had seemed like his fighting days were behind him when he retired after losing to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in December 2011.

A few months later, Lesnar would re-debut with WWE, where it appeared he would remain until deciding to move out of the spotlight. What most didn’t know, though, was that Brock still had the itch to compete in the Octagon one more time – and he was contractually able to do so with the agreement of the professional wrestling juggernaut.

Already a very wealthy man, Lesnar wasn’t going to come cheap. He reportedly negotiated an $8 million purse for his co-main event with Mark Hunt.

Lesnar won the three-round bout on the judges’ scorecards, but the win would be overturned to a no contest after he failed a number of drug tests conducted after the fight. Per Fox Sports, he was fined $250,000 for the failures, meaning it hardly ate into his massive payday.

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