UFC 302 on June 1 will be headlined by the hotly anticipated fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier. And fans are all in on this main event given that this might as well be the last time, we see ‘The Diamond’ in the octagon. While this will likely be Poirier’s last crack at the title, he won’t return home empty-handed even if he falls short.
In fact, the bout against the Russian has got the Louisiana native one of his biggest paydays!
Based on an article from NY Fights, UFC 302 will cross the $10 million dollar(excluding the PPV shares) mark in cumulative fighter payout. The LW champion, Islam Makhachev is expected to make the most out of this bout. He is expected to go home with a guaranteed purse of between $1-1.5 million. Count the PPV shares to which he is also entitled, and that gives him a big fat paycheck of $3 mil!
In fact, the two wars with former pound-for-pound great Alexander Volkanovski raised the Dagestani’s stock considerably, earning him $2.6 million as his base salary. He ended up with more than $4 million with all the bonuses combined.
As for the veteran Poirier, this will be one of the biggest and pivotal fights in his career.
Credits: IMAGO
The 35-year-old is expected to make at least $800,000 as a guaranteed purse to get in the ring with Makhachev and counting the bonuses that can go up to $2 million.
To UFC’s credit, Poirier and Makhachev aren’t the only ones who are getting rich, others including Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa are also likely to receive major bucks.
Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa purse
When the UFC extravaganza returns to the US on June 1 former MW champion, Sean Strickland will lock horns with Brazil’s own Paulo Costa in the co-main event. Besides the main event title fight, this is another bout that will get the most eyes on it.
Strickland is aiming for the moon with this banger, looking for redemption after his title loss to Dricus Du Plessis. On the other hand, Costa is also coming from a loss, and just like Strickland, he is also looking for a bounce-back.
With the two going after each other for months now, this fight will be one for the ages. They have unique styles and it will be interesting to see how they stack up. It is expected to be a banger of a fight unless Strickland stays back and awkwardly jabs at Costa for 3 rounds.
Regardless, according to the above-mentioned source, both fighters are expected to bag a sum of $500,000 as a guaranteed purse and a percentage of the PPV cut.
