Preliminary numbers are in for the “biggest pay-per-view in UFC history” according to Dana White, and it’s not. The number is imressive however, clocking in at over 800,000 buys. A quick calculation later, the revenue generated was $35,960,000. Not too shabby at all in these dark, economic times.You add that to the live gate revenue of $4,800,000 and the event was one of the most profitable in the organization’s history…not to mention the most expensive in fighter salary. The disclosed fighter pay was over a million dollars, not to mention the undisclosed money.
The final pay-per-view tally will likely still be higher once the numbers trickle in. Still hard to fathom at the Fertittas and White paid $2 million for the struggling organization back in the day.
UFC 91 is in the books, and I’ve just got my hot little hands on the salary information.
Main Event Fighters:
Brock Lesnar ($450,000/win bonus $200,000) defeated Randy Couture ($250,000) his win bonus would have been $250,000
Main Card Fighters:
Kenny Florian ($80,000/win bonus $40,000) defeated Joe Stevenson ($35,000) win bonus would have been $35,000
Gabriel Gonzaga ($110,000/win bonus $55,000) defeated Josh Hendricks ($8,000) his win bonus would have been $8,000
Dustin Hazelett ($28,000/win bonus $11,000) defeated Tamdan McCrory ($10,000) his win bonus would have been $10,000
Demian Maia ($40,000/win bonus $20,000) defeated Nate Quarry ($25,000) his win bonus would have been $25,000
Preliminary Fighters:
Aaron Riley ($8,000/win bonus $4,000) defeated Jorge Gurgel ($10,000) his win bonus would have been $10,000
Jeremy Stephens ($16,000/win bonus $8,000) defeated Rafael Dos Anjos ($4,000) his win bonus would have been $4,000
Mark Bocek ($18,000/win bonus $9,000) defeated Alvin Robinson ($7,000) his win bonus would have been $7,000
Matt Brown ($16,000/win bonus $8,000) defeated Ryan Thomas ($3,000) his win bonus would have been $3,000
Total disclosed fighter payroll: $1,118,000
In addition, the UFC handed out the following $60,000 bonuses:
Fight of the Night
Aaron Riley and Jorge Gurgel for their back and forth entertaining slugfest.
91 Knockout of the Night
Jeremy Stephens for his absolutely devastating uppercut knockout. Quite honestly, even though Stephens is a lightweight, he likely would have knocked out a heavyweight with how clean and strong of a shot he caught Dos Anjos with.
Submission of the Night
Dustin Hazelett for his nasty looking armbar on the “Barncat”
