Brock Lesnar Earns Highest UFC Salary Ever With His ‘UFC 200: Tate Vs. Nunes’ Purse

On Saturday, July 9, Brock Lesnar made his anticipated return to MMA action when he faced off against Mark Hunt at UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes. It was a night “The Beast” would remember as he dominated Hunt with his wrestling, legitimizing his presence in the sport. However, what makes it better is that Brock Lesnar has earned the highest UFC salary ever in the company.

According to an article written by Bloody Elbow, it reports that Brock Lesnar’s purse for UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes is the highest ever to come out of UFC. Reportedly, Lesnar earned a grand total of $2.5 million, which is the largest disclosed payout ever. Prior to Lesnar’s purse at UFC 200, the previous high mark pay belonged to Conor McGregor when he received a $1 million disclosed payday for UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz. Take note that McGregor’s purse is the amount he is paid despite the outcome of his fight. That means he could lose the fight against Nate Diaz (which he did) and still go home with $1 million. Lesnar won his fight so he was surely paid more than what was in his purse. Still, if Lesnar were to lose, $2.5 million is a lot of money to be paid to someone who hasn’t competed in UFC, as well as MMA in general, for over four years.

If there was one person who was cursed with bad luck that night when it comes to their pay purse, though, it is easily going to be Daniel Cormier. The current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was scheduled to defend his title against Jon Jones in the main event. His payout prior to Jones being taken out of UFC 200 due to a failed drug test was $1 million, as stated by Kevin Iole on his Twitter. Afterwards, his pay was cut in half when he fought Anderson Silva.

Cormier was to make $1 million to fight Jones, but his purse to fight Silva is $500k per Nevada Athletic Commission

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 9, 2016

As for other fighters on the main card at UFC 200, Brock Lesnar’s opponent, Mark Hunt, will earn $700,000. José Aldo will earn $400,000 while his opponent Frankie Edgar will earn $190,000. The headliners, Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes, will earn $500,000 and $100,000 respectively. As for Anderson Silva, he is getting a bit of special treatment for stepping in on such short notice as he takes home $600,000.

Brock Lesnar earning $2.5 million at UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes is bringing up a particular question among both MMA and WWE fans. Where does Lesnar make more money? If one were to analyze the base pays, Lesnar technically made more money at UFC 200 by $500 million. In WWE, Lesnar is making about $2 million a year, as reported by My First Class Life. However, Lesnar has many other bonuses that add to his pay (or compliments it) in the WWE such as use of private transportation provided by WWE, a 3.25 percent bonus on merchandise sales, and a chunk of his pay-per-view revenue. Let’s not forget that Brock Lesnar works part-time in WWE too.