UFC has been growing in popularity over the last decade, attracting millions of viewers on pay-per-view streams. While expert marketing was responsible for its expansion, there were quite a few fighters who stirred the pot and helped the league grow in popularity more quickly. As a result, these fighters have become the most-paid athletes in UFC. In this article, we’re going to talk about the biggest names in the UFC when it comes to their paycheck. Besides their income, we’ll also mention their impact on the sport and how they helped it grow. The most paid UFC fighters we’ll talk about are:
- Connor McGregor
- Khabib Nurmagomedov
- Andrei Arlovski
- Alistair Overeem
- Anderson Silva
Each of these fighters has done a lot to make the sport popular today. Therefore, when you choose the best paying online casino in the future, you’ll easily find one that offers UFC betting alongside other casino games.
Connor McGregor
Connor McGregor is at the top of this list as someone who has done a lot for this sport. His amazing character, skill in the octagon and smart business practices have allowed him to become one of the top fighters in the UFC. With the growth of the popularity of the sport, it became available in online sportsbooks for betting. That way, fans can bet on any match while having fun playing various kinds of games. When it comes to McGregor’s success, his earnings from the UFC exceed $20 million. On top of that, his earnings also come from sponsors, pay-per-view earnings and various business ventures. All this makes him the highest paid UFC fighter 2022 with the highest net worth.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib became a legend due to the fact that he remains an undefeated UFC fighter. As such, he has garnered a lot of attention from fans around the world, earning himself a spot among the highest paid UFC athletes. He is among the rare fighters who managed to take Connor McGregor down. Additionally, their fight was the highest paid UFC fight as both fighters took $7 million home combined. He earned close to $15 million from his UFC career, placing him in second place behind McGregor.
Andrei Arlovski
While some of the fighters were able to make money from an increasingly popular pay-per-view cut, not all of them have that kind of benefit. But old-school fighters who manage to stick around long enough can still earn a lot of money. Andrei Arlovski is the perfect example. The Belarus fighter started his MMA career back in 1999. However, his UFC debut was in 2000. Over the years, he competed in different organizations and came back to UFC in 2014. As a heavyweight competitor, it’s impressive to see him still exchange punches in the octagon for such a long time. The length of his career has made his earnings go a bit over $10 million, just enough to pass over Alistair Overeem. Despite earning lower than what was Jon Jones salary per fight on average, he still managed to get to the top 3 fighters.
Alistair Overeem
Alistair is among the legends of the sport due to his long career, that’s similar to Andrei’s. The fact that he also has no earnings from pay-per-view makes the figure of over $10 million impressive. Even though he has been fighting in the UFC for 10 years. During that time, he had an amazing score, amassing his fortune. His prime years in UFC were from 2016 to 2018, when he earned a lot. While he has not fully retired, he did finish his contract with the UFC, so his earnings numbers won’t be going up. Still, they have earned him a spot among the top 5 earners.
Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva is among the legends of the sport, and he has managed to earn a staggering $8,7 million during his career. The impressive part is that his salary per fight exceeds $600,000, which is not what many UFC athletes can brag with. Plus, he is among the fighters who had a percentage of earnings coming from pay-per-view due to his extreme UFC popularity. In fact, his most paid fights were later on in his career when the popularity of the sport skyrocketed. Much like other stars, he managed to earn millions in sponsorships and bonuses as well, which is not included in the figure we’ve mentioned above. His last UFC fight was back in November 2020, when the fighter’s contract with the UFC finished. Unfortunately, he lost the last fight.
Conclusion
These are the top five UFC athletes that have managed to earn a lot of money during their careers. While others fought a lot of times, others leveraged their popularity to earn more money each time they showed up. The other fighters with high earnings worth mentioning are Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre and Michale Bisping. Each of these athletes has proven their skills in the octagon, becoming an important part of UFC history and helping it become what it is today.