UFC 98 gate and attendance figures released from NSAC
by Jesse Holland on Jun 2, 2009 9:34 PM EDT
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UFC 98: "Evans vs. Machida," which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 23, sold 9,550 tickets for an official live gate of $3,257,350, according to The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Complimentary tickets to the tune of 3,056 pushed attendance to the 12,606 mark, which is a respectable number but a bit below the 15,000+ for UFC 94 "St. Pierre vs. Penn 2," the prior UFC event held at The MGM Grand.
Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida became the latest 205-pound champion in the UFC 98 main event, sending former belt keeper Rashad Evans into another galaxy with a savage combination of strikes that had "Sugar" dissolved on the canvas in the second round. And former welterweight champion Matt Hughes survived an early scare to settle his score against Matt Serra via unanimous decision in the co featured fight of the night.
UFC dished out $957,000 in fighter salaries for the pay-per-view (PPV) event and another $240,000 in additional bonus money for the four participants who delivered outstanding performances.
For complete results and coverage of "Evans vs. Machida" click here and here.
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I thought they gave four 70,000 dollar bonuses at 98. That would be another 280,000 in additional bonus money the article says 240,000
by Cliff on Jun 2, 2009 9:46 PM EDT reply actions
just another case of fighters getting paid dirt compared to what the ufc made. i wonder how much they made on ppv’s and merchandise for the event.
by sac165 on Jun 2, 2009 9:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Nobody is putting a gun to their heads to fight. The contract is offered, and they either accept the offer to fight in the biggest MMA organization in the world for 4K/4K or they go back to fighting in local shows and county fairs for $500.
by PW on Jun 3, 2009 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions
You act as if it is free to host an event of this size and magnitude. Furthermore, nobody ever said the UFC was a non-profit organization. The first goal of a business is to make money. I don’t think they should be criticized for being an effective business. Or would you rather see them pay fighter like Affliction does and then go under? Thus, we would have half the amount of live events that we currently get to watch because Strikeforce and Bellator seem to be the only other promotions that have their acts fully together?
by Danza Macabra on Jun 2, 2009 10:02 PM EDT up reply actions
ps: Strikeforce and Bellator pay their fighters (on average) less than the UFC does.
by Danza Macabra on Jun 2, 2009 10:03 PM EDT up reply actions
the ufc made a BILLION dollars last year, do you know how much that is? and they still have people fighting on thier cards getting paid less than 10 grande, and as far as hosting the event its alot easier when your partners own the hotel the fight is in.
by sac165 on Jun 3, 2009 9:11 AM EDT up reply actions
im curious to see what kind of ppv numbers this event pulled in!
I want to know if Shad vs. Machida was a big draw or not!
by john on Jun 3, 2009 9:47 AM EDT up reply actions
My guess is it did ok, but more because of the Matt Serra vs Matt Hughes fight than because of the main event.
by O damn he got caught on Jun 3, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Dude you are just clueless. No one is complaining about there pay.
People like Liddell and Anderson make millions thats why they talk about not needing to fight anymore.
Do you really think Rashaad got what is posted? Whu do you think fighters always say I need bigger fights it means more cash, I need title fights it means more cash.
I will bet after PPV percentages are factored in Machida and Rashaad both made close to if not over 1 million.
I will also say so did Matt Hughes, I will also bet Serra made much more then what was posted as I believe he also got a ppv %.
People have been saying for some time Main event and co main event fighters get a ppv%.
It doesnt take much. For example.
Lets says the PPV did 800,000 buys at 50.00 for easy math.
Thats $40,000,000
The PPV companies get 50% (this figure could be less now due to the UFC having a long history of big buys)
So for argument sake the UFC gets $20,000,000
Rashaad being the Main Event and Champion gets 4.0% if he would have won he would have recieved 6%.
(a fighter like Liddell may get 7-9% due to his star power)
So Evens would get $800,000
Machida would get 2.5% but being that he won he gets 4.0%
So Machida Earns an additional $800,000
Hughes being the Co Main event and an established Super star with the UFC gets 3.5%-5% win or lose and would have recieved 5% as the main event and 7% if it was a title fight.
Hughes gets an additional $700,000
Serra being the Co Main event fighter gets 1.5% if he was to win he would have recieved an additional 2.5%
Serra gets an additional $300,000
So you can see fighting 3 times a year with PPV % show and win money, sponsors and fight of the night and KO and Sub of the night these guys make shit loads of cash.
Guys like Tyson Griffin, Frankie Edgar, Marquardt Sherk ect probably make with there win and show and FOTN and KO and Sub of the nite dollars make 150-500K plus they get sponsor dollars.
Fighters below these guys probably make 30-100K.
And that is plenty for guys who absolutley bring in zero fans.
by Badguy on Jun 3, 2009 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions
Thats assuming that their contracts are taking home a % of PPV buys, just because you’re in a main event doesn’t mean you’re taking home a % of ANY of the PPV buys. There were very few fighters that the UFC did that for; contractually Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture are the only ones I know of. I would be surprised to hear Zuffa has changed their ways of doing business but as far as I know, the majority of fighters in the UFC don’t see a dime of the PPV money.
by O damn he got caught on Jun 3, 2009 9:59 AM EDT up reply actions
Dana is well-known for handing fighters cash under the table for good performances, even if it’s not part of the contract or made public. I would bet that even the dudes in the opening fight of the evening making their UFC got their $4000 miuns corner fees and whatnot, then still got a nice fat envelope from Dana before they left.
by PW on Jun 3, 2009 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Crazy, 1/3rd of the gate covers all fighter pay; the UFC shells out whatever other expense’s they incurr, which can’t be more than another 2 mil off the gate for other employee salaries, equipment set up and all the other behind the scenes junk; so they pocket all the PPV cash at $44.95 a pop. Lets say they only get 500k paper view orders; thats $22,475,000.00 . Thats 22 mil per UFC every month assuming they do 500,000 buys, which is low for a UFC event. These f*ckers are raking in $269,700,000.00 per year off those #’s which are probably way low estimates; imo they can definatley throw the fighters some more cash or at least come up with a union or fighter insurance with medical/dental etc…
by O damn he got caught on Jun 3, 2009 8:20 AM EDT reply actions
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