UFC on FOX 7 salaries: Benson Henderson, Frank Mir earn biggest fight purses

Main-event winner Benson Henderson and co-main-event loser Frank Mir were the top earners at Saturday’s UFC on FOX 7 event and each earned $200,000.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) obtained the list of disclosed paydays from the California State Athletic Commission.

The event took place at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The main card, which saw lightweight champion Henderson earn a split-decision victory over Gilbert Melendez ($175,000), aired on FOX following prelims on FX and Facebook.
The total disclosed payroll for the April 20 event was $1,318,000.

The full UFC on FOX 7 salaries included:

Benson Henderson: $200,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus)
def. Gilbert Melendez: $175,000

Daniel Cormier: $126,000 (includes $63,000 win bonus)
def. Frank Mir: $200,000

Josh Thomson: $95,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Nate Diaz: $15,000

Matt Brown: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Jordan Mein: $16,000

Chad Mendes: $56,000 (includes $28,000 win bonus)
def. Darren Elkins: $24,000

Francis Carmont: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus)
def. Lorenz Larkin: $23,000

Myles Jury: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Ramsey Nijem: $14,000

Joseph Benavidez: $66,000 (includes $33,000 win bonus)
def. Darren Uyenoyama: $12,000

T.J. Dillashaw: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Hugo Viana: $8,000

Jorge Masvidal: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Tim Means: $10,000

Anthony Njorkuani: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)
def. Roger Bowling: $12,000

Yoel Romero: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Clifford Starks: $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 UFC on FOX 7 bonuses to Romero and Thomson (dual “KO of the Night” winners), and Brown and Mein (“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 on FOX 7, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Benson Henderson)