TUF 20 Finale salaries: New UFC champ Carla Esparza pockets $50,000

Carla Esparza

Newly crowned UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza picked up a disclosed payday of $50,000 for her tournament-final title win this past weekend at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale.

MMAjunkie today obtained the list of disclosed paydays from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The TUF 20 Finale took place this past Friday, Dec. 12, at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The bulk of the card aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

In the headliner, Esparza submitted Rose Namajunas to win the 16-slot “TUF 20? tournament and claim the belt. Namajunas earned $25,000 for her efforts.

The show’s other cast members who fought on the undercard also received base of $8,000 to show and $8,000 as a win bonus if victorious.

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $442,000.

The full TUF 20 Finale payouts included:

Carla Esparza: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
def. Rose Namajunas: $25,000

Charles Oliveira: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus)
def. Jeremy Stephens: $40,000

Daron Cruickshank: $34,000 (includes $17,000 win bonus)
vs. K.J. Noons: $31,000

Yancy Medeiros: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Joe Proctor: $10,000

Jessica Penne: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. [autotag]Randa Markos: $8,000

[autotag]Felice Herrig: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Lisa Ellis: $8,000

Heather Jo Clark: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Bec Rawlings: $8,000

Joanne Calderwood: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Seo Hee Ham: $8,000

Tecia Torres: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Angela Magana: $8,000

Aisling Daly: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Alex Chambers: $8,000

Angela Hill: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Emily Kagan: $8,000

Now, the usual disclaimer: The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter’s income. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays.

For example, as previously reported, UFC officials handed out additional $50,000 TUF 20 Finale bonuses to Penne and Markos (“Fight of the Night”), Esparza (“Performance of the Night”) and Medeiros (“Performance of the Night”).

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

For complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter Finale 20, check out the UFC Events section of the site.