UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is guaranteed the biggest payday of UFC 239.
Jones, 31, will make a flat $500,000 to take on challenger Thiago Santos, who is guaranteed a flat $350,000 for Saturday’s title fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, according to salaries released to MMA Junkie by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Jones took home the same disclosed payday for his previous fight, a dominant title defense over Anthony Smith at UFC 235 in March.
Co-headliner and two-division champion Amanda Nunes has the chance to match Jones in disclosed pay should she defend her bantamweight belt, earning $300,000 to show and $200,000 to win. Nunes’ opponent, ex-champ Holly Holm, will make a flat $300,000.
Of the 10 combatants on the pay-per-view main card, eight are guaranteed a six-figure payday. Notably, former Strikeforce lightweight champion and ESPN prelim headliner Gilbert Melendez will make a flat $200,000 to face Arnold Allen, who makes $32,000 to show and would add $32,000 if he wins.
Here is the full list of show and win salaries for UFC 239:
- Champ Jon Jones ($500,000; no win bonus) vs. Thiago Santos ($350,000; no win bonus)
- Champ Amanda Nunes ($300,000; $200,000 win bonus) vs. Holly Holm ($300,000; no win bonus)
- Ben Askren ($210,000; $160,000 win bonus) vs. Jorge Masvidal ($100,000; $100,000 win bonus)
- Jan Blachowicz ($46,000; $46,000 win bonus) vs. Luke Rockhold ($200,000; $150,000 win bonus)
- Michael Chiesa ($52,000; $52,000 win bonus) vs. Diego Sanchez ($103,000; $103,000 win bonus)
- Arnold Allen ($32,000; $32,000 win bonus) vs. Gilbert Melendez ($200,000; no win bonus)
- Nohelin Hernandez ($12,000; $12,000 win bonus) vs. Marlon Vera ($48,000; $48,000 win bonus)
- Claudia Gadelha ($51,000; $51,000 win bonus) vs. Randa Markos ($30,000; $30,000 win bonus)
- Alejandro Perez ($42,000; $42,000 win bonus) vs. Song Yadong ($45,000; $45,000 win bonus)
- Jack Marshman ($30,000; $30,000 win bonus) vs. Edmen Shahbazyan ($16,000; $16,000 win bonus)
- Ismail Naurdiev ($14,000; $14,000 win bonus) vs. Chance Rencountre ($14,000; $14,000 win bonus)
- Julia Avila ($10,000; $10,000 win bonus) vs. Pannie Kianzad ($12,000; $12,000 win bonus)
Now, the usual disclaimer: The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, including the official UFC 239 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. They also do not include pay-per-view cuts that some top-level fighters receive.
For example, UFC officials are expected to hand out four additional $50,000 UFC 239 fight-night bonuses, including two for “Performance of the Night,” and two for “Fight of the Night.”
In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.
For complete coverage of UFC 239, check out the UFC results.