UFC 189 salaries: Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes both earn flat $500K

Headliners Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes earned the largest disclosed paydays – $500,000 each – at this past Saturday’s UFC 189 event.

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

UFC 189 took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

In the main event, McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) scored a second-round TKO of Mendes (17-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) to become interim UFC featherweight champion.

The total disclosed payroll for the event was $1,952,000.

Official UFC 189 payouts included:

Conor McGregor: $500,000 (no win bonus)
def. Chad Mendes: $500,000 (wasn’t eligible for win bonus)

Champ Robbie Lawler: $300,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus)
def. Rory MacDonald: $59,000

Jeremy Stephens: $72,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus)*
def. Dennis Bermudez: $34,000*

Gunnar Nelson: $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus)
def. Brandon Thatch: $22,000

Thomas Almeida: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
def. Brad Pickett: $30,000

Matt Brown: $92,000 (includes $46,000 win bonus)
def. Tim Means: $23,000

Alex Garcia: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Swick: $48,000

John Howard: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus)
def. Cathal Pendred: $10,000

Cody Garbrandt: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Henry Briones: $10,000

Louis Smolka: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Neil Seery: $15,000

Cody Pfister: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Yosdenis Cedeno: $13,000

* – Stephens fined 20 percent ($8,000) for missing weight; fine was issued to Bermudez

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 like Reebok, 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 sometimes pays.

For example, as previously reported, UFC officials handed out additional $50,000 UFC 189 bonuses to McGregor, Almeida, Lawler and MacDonald. McGregor and Almeida earned “Performance of the Night” bonuses while Lawler and MacDonald took home “Fight of the Night” honors.

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 more on UFC 189, check out the UFC Events section of the site.