Copy/paste:
The average UFC fighter made $150,249 in 2022, down from average earnings of $160,022 in 2021. A few more stats that you might find interesting:
– The median income in the U.S. in 2022 was $44,225, yet 27% of the UFC's fighters (165 fighters) made less than that in 2022.
– 282 fighters (46%) earned six figures in 2022 (42% in 2021).
– 21 men and women wore UFC championship belts (including interim) in 2022, and they earned an average of $608,095 (down from $675,824 in 2021) over the course of the year (highest – Israel Adesanya: $1,956,000; lowest – Rose Namajunas: $192,000). Most of these fighters also made much more money in undisclosed pay-per-view bonuses.
– The highest-earning non-UFC champion in 2022 was Andrei Arlovski(!!), who pulled in a cool $1,108,000.
Now, for the salary results. It is worth noting that these are only the reported purses plus Fight of the Night & Performance of the Night bonuses that have been made public, along with Venum payouts (now called fight week incentive pay). Many top-performing fighters get additional bonuses paid out to them that aren’t reported, plus the top guys/gals get a cut of the pay-per-view buys for events that they headline. Also, many athletic commissions don’t report fighters’ salary info, so for those, we’ve estimated a fighter’s purse based on what they have earned in their other recent fights and/or what other comparable fighters earn. Fighters with some estimated purses are marked with a * in the database.