Kamaru Usman banked £1.1 million for his stunning knockout of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261. The welterweight champion was the best-paid fighter on the card, which exceeded all expectations in front of 15,000 fans in Florida.
Usman stole the show with his spectacular finish and has been paid handsomely for his work with the breakdown of fighter pay for the event now revealed.
The Nigerian Nightmare cashed in with £538,000 to show up, a £459,000 pay-per-view bonus, a £43,000 sponsorship bonus and a well-deserved £35,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
It is the biggest payday of his career so far and the champion benefited from the fact that Masvidal is also a huge draw for fans.
The bump was a significant one for Usman, who earned £458,000 in total from his first win over Masvidal on Fight Island last year.
“Gamebred’ was gracious in defeat and earned £358,000 to show, £186,000 in pay-per-view money and a £28,000 sponsorship bonus. Elsewhere on the card, Rose Namajunas was unsurprisingly given a Performance of the Night bonus to boost her overall takings to £222,000 having knocked out the champion Zhang Weili with a picture perfect head kick in the first round.
Weili herself claimed £272,000 while Valentina Shevchenko, who demolished Jessica Andrade took home £308,000, the loser ending the night with £82,000.
The most alarming image of the night was Chris Weidman’s horror double leg break just 17 seconds into his middleweight clash with Uriah Hall.
Fortunately for the American, he has still been well paid for competing, earning £320,000 for his troubles.
Hall, despite taking the Pyrrhic victory, was paid less than the former champion to the tune of £233,000. Jimmy Crute, who was forced to stop by doctors after taking a savage leg kick, earned £147,000, while the victor of that light-heavyweight contest Anthony Smith emerged with £258,000.
Culled from dailymail.co.uk
