UFC 164 salaries: Mir, Barnett top $1,126,000 payroll

Frank Mir and Josh Barnett earned the top disclosed paydays at August’s UFC 164 event.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in September requested and today received the list of show and win purses from the Wisconsin Department Of Safety & Professional Services.

UFC 164 took place Aug. 31 at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Mir received a guaranteed $200,000 to fight Barnett, who received a guaranteed $160,000 in his first fight back in the UFC after more than 11 years. Barnett stopped Mir less than two minutes into the first round in what Mir argued afterward was an early stoppage.

In the main event, then-lightweight champion Benson Henderson earned $110,000 in his title fight against Anthony Pettis, who made $54,000 to take the belt. Henderson would have doubled up with a victory.

The card’s other big earner was Ben Rothwell, who made $108,000 to stop Brandon Vera ($70,000). Rothwell later was suspended by the UFC for testing positive for elevated testosterone levels.

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $1,126,000.

The full list of UFC 164 salaries included:

Anthony Pettis: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus)
def. Benson Henderson: $110,000

Josh Barnett: $160,000 (no win bonus)
def. Frank Mir: $200,000

Chad Mendes: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus)
def. Clay Guida: $44,000

Ben Rothwell: $108,000 (includes $54,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Vera: $70,000

Dustin Poirier: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
def. Erik Koch: $15,000

Gleison Tibau: $74,000 (includes $37,000 win bonus)
def. Jamie Varner: $17,000

Tim Elliott: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Louis Gaudinot: $8,000

Hyun Gyu Lim: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Pascal Krauss: $15,000

Chico Camus: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Kyung Ho Kang: $8,000

Soa Palelei: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Nikita Krylov: $8,000

Al Iaquinta: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Ryan Couture: $15,000

Magnus Cedenblad: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
def. Jared Hamman: $14,000

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. Additionally, they don’t include any pay-per-view revenue some top fighters receive.

For example, as previously reported, UFC officials handed out additional $50,000 UFC 164 bonuses to Mendes (“KO of the Night”), Pettis (“Submission of the Night”), Lim (“Fight of the Night”) and Krauss (“Fight 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 UFC 164, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Josh Barnett)