UFC 104 Fighter Salaries: Lyoto Machida Earns $200,000

By Ray Hui - Editor

Follow @MMAFighting on Twitter, and Like MMA Fighting on Facebook.

UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida walked away with $200,000 and challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua with $155,000 for main eventing this past Saturday's UFC 104, according to salaries disclosed to FanHouse Tuesday by the California athletic commission.

Machida won a unanimous decision over Rua to retain his belt, but even if he had lost the controversial five-round showdown, he would have still earned the same amount as there was no win bonus attached to his bout agreement.

In the past, certain headliners have received a cut of the profits from pay-per-view buys and is a possible reason as to why Machida was listed without a win bonus.

The Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Joe Stevenson was the highest earner outside of the main events (and post-fight award bonuses), receiving $94,000 for his TKO win over Spencer Fisher, $26,000.

Rising heavyweight Cain Velasquez earned $70,000 for remaining undefeated in a second-round TKO win over former IFL standout Ben Rothwell, who pocketed $50,000.

Anthony Johnson earned $30,000 in his 43-second knockout over Yoshiyuki Yoshida on the pay-per-view opener. However 20% of Johnson's salary was paid to his opponent for Johnson's failure to make weight. To make matters worse, Johnson would have received a $60,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night but was disqualified from the honor.

The official attendance at the Staples Center was 14,892 with gross receipts of $1,913,093.62 and a net gate of $1,762,549.

Below are the disclosed paydays the UFC reported to the athletic commission and does not necessarily represent a fighter's final earnings.

Not reflected below are the performance bonuses awarded at the post-fight press conference, where Pat Barry earned a $120,000 bonus for Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night, Antoni Hardonk a $60,000 bonus for Fight of the Night and Stefan Struve a $60,000 bonus for Submission of the Night.

1. Stefan Struve - $14,000 ($7,000 bonus) def. Chase Gormley - $10,000
2. Kyle Kingsbury - $16,000 ($8,000 bonus) def. Razak Al-Hassan - $3,000
3. Ryan Bader - $30,000 ($15,000 bonus) def. Eric Schafer - $13,000
4. Jorge Rivera - $36,000 ($18,000 bonus) def. Rob Kimmons - $9,000
5. Chael Sonnen - $54,000 ($27,000 bonus) def. Yushin Okami - $18,000
6. Pat Barry - $14,000 ($7,000 bonus) def. Antoni Hardonk - $16,000
7. Anthony Johnson - $30,000 ($15,000 bonus) def. Yoshiyuki Yoshida - $12,000
8. Joe Stevenson - $94,000 ($47,000 bonus) def. Spencer Fisher - $26,000
9. Gleison Tibau -$38,000 ($19,000 bonus) def. Josh Neer - $14,000
10. Cain Velasquez - $70,000 ($35,000 bonus) def. Ben Rothwell - $50,000
11. Lyoto Machida - $200,000 def. Mauricio Rua - $155,000

Read More: anthonyjohnson, benrothwell, cainvelasquez, lyotomachida, mauricio shogun rua, mauricioshogunrua, ufc 104, ufc104, yoshiyukiyoshida, Anthony Johnson (MMA), Ben Rothwell (MMA), Cain Velasquez (MMA), Lyoto Machida (MMA), Yoshiyuki Yoshida (MMA)

Follow @MMAFighting on Twitter, and Like MMA Fighting on Facebook.

Tweet 0 comments