Derek Brunson, a veteran middleweight fighter, revealed that he earned his biggest payday ever after debuting in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), significantly more than what he used to earn in his 11-year career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Derek Brunson, a UFC veteran, had 21 fights spanning nearly 11 years. Yet, his most significant payday came only after his PFL debut in November.
Brunson didn’t disclose the exact amount he earned from the new promotion. However, he was all praises for the treatment he received post-signing with PFL. He joined PFL after requesting his release from UFC, which was granted. He then defeated Ray Cooper III in the PFL Finals card, ending 2023 on a high note.
“My biggest payday ever,” Brunson told MMA Fighting. “It’s pretty good. It’s a lot more than the UFC, I would say that.”
It’s likely that Brunson was paid a flat fee for his fight. This is different from the usual “show-win” system most fights use. In this system, an athlete gets a show purse and then an additional bonus for a win, often equal to the show purse.
Many fighters have argued against this model, especially in a sport where controversial judging can cost an athlete half their paycheck. Some believe a guaranteed payday might make some athletes less competitive as they’re no longer fighting for a win bonus. Brunson, however, calls this logic flawed.
“If you get the right athletes, any athlete fighting at a high level wants to win,” Brunson said. “They’re not going to go out there and just say, ‘Oh, I got paid a lot of money, I’m going to lose.'”
“But just being comfortable with how they’re taking care of you makes a big difference. They took care of me and I wanted to go out there and get the win, and still incentivize the win, but definitely an upgrade from my previous payday.”
Brunson harbors no ill feelings towards UFC. He appreciates that they allowed him to get out of his contract to sign with PFL. However, he’s still amazed that he fought there for over a decade, spending nearly all that time as a top-10 ranked middleweight. Yet, it wasn’t until he left UFC that he earned his biggest payday.
“It’s crazy,” Brunson said. “It’s kind of disheartening when you hear guys like Kevin Holland say, ‘The fight with [Khamzat] Chimaev, I got paid crazy money.’ Like I would imagine he got $600,000 or something like that, short notice. Who else, I think Sean Strickland fought somebody on short notice, it was [Nassourdine] Imavov or somebody, but he fought him on short notice and got paid a lot of money. I’ve never been able to say that.”
“I fought everybody. Even like [Israel Adesanya] — I didn’t have to fight Izzy. I did it because it’s a big fight and I wanted to put on for the fans and put on a big fight. These are fights that I didn’t have to take, but I took those risks and I really wanted to put on a good fight and give the fans something good.”
Brunson was also surprised that he never received a post-fight bonus during his entire UFC tenure, despite delivering a number of blistering finishes over the years.
“Funny enough, I’ve been in the UFC, I think I have the most finishes in middleweight history. I’m tied with Don Frye for the most in UFC history with six. I’ve never got a finish or performance bonus,” Brunson said. “That’s crazy. I’ve got a lot of finishes in the UFC and I never got a performance bonus. It’s just kind of rough with those details.”
“I enjoy fighting, but we definitely want to be able to be comfortable, take care of our families with it, be able to buy what we want to buy. We put our lives, our livelihoods on the line, our brains. We can’t get that stuff back. If you’re out here putting on big fights and fighting these high-level fights, you want to be taken care of.”
In the end, Brunson believes leaving the UFC when he did was the best possible move for his career. But that goes beyond his financial compensation in the PFL.
For him, it all comes down to going somewhere he was wanted. And that wasn’t necessarily a feeling he had any longer in the UFC.
“There was nothing left for me in the UFC,” Brunson said. “I feel like I squeezed all of the juice out of the lemon or whatever. Just being able to have a fresh start, a new start, not going where I’m tolerated but somewhere I’m wanted and appreciated.”
“Everybody wants to feel appreciated. Everybody that works wants to feel valued about their work. That’s every job in America or every job in the world. Once someone shows you appreciation, it’s reciprocated.”