Pack your bags and book your tickets if you want to catch this weekend’s MMA action live because the UFC is going ‘Down Under.’ Featuring an enthralling grudge match as the main event with Israel Adesanya challenging champion Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight crown, this weekend’s UFC banger promises a lot not just for the fans but for the fighters as well in terms of salaries.
In the main event, the South African champion is guaranteed a $500k salary along with an additional $42,000 coming way of sponsorships, while his opponent, Adesanya, is expected to bag a guaranteed sum of $1 million with an additional $32k owing to his sponsors.
The winner will also take home the $100k win bonus. Note that all these figures are based on reports by Sportysalaries.com.
LET’S SETTLE THIS IN THE OCTAGON 🔥@DricusDuPlessis vs @Stylebender
[ #UFC305 | TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus PPV | 10pmET/7pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/127AJIbEiU
— UFC (@ufc) August 17, 2024
Now, coming to the co-main event, Kiwi sensation, Kai Kara-France returns to the octagon to take on the homeboy, Steve Erceg. The bout is expected to get Kai $300k and Steve $75k as bout salaries with $11,000 & $5,000 courtesy of sponsors, respectively.
Moving on to the next fight in line, Polish wrestler Mateusz Gamrot is slated to fight #11 ranked lightweight Dan Hooker for a purse of $110,000 along with the $11k sponsor wager whereas ‘The Hangman’ is expected to bag an impressive $350k as a guaranteed purse and an additional $21k from his sponsors.
In addition to the above-mentioned bangers, the promotion also has scheduled a heavyweight slugfest between Aussie Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik who are expected to bag $200k & $250k as guaranteed purses respectively. Furthermore, China’s Li Jingliang is set to make a stellar return this weekend against Brazil’s Carlos Prates under a guaranteed purse of $300l & $30k each. Also, note that except for ‘The Astroboy’ everyone else on the main card is eligible for a win bonus.
With that being said, let us dive a little deeper and take a closer look at the preliminary card and see what the fighters are earning.
UFC 305 Prelims: Expected purses and salaries
UFC 305 features a total of 12 bouts – five on the main card including the main event title fight, and seven in the prelims. Main event headliner, Adesanya is the highest-paid athlete on the card with sources suggesting ‘The Last Stylebender’ to earn more than $1 mil taking into account the PPV shares.
Meanwhile, a total of six Aussie fighters comprise the undercard, including Junior Tafa who takes on Brazil’s Valter Walker at heavyweight for a purse of $38k and $24k respectively. Josh Culibao and Jack Jenkins are also slated to face two other Brazilians – Ricardo Ramos & Herbert Burns. Their payouts are as follows – Culiboa ($75k plus $5k via sponsor), Ramos ($85k plus $10k as sponsorship benefits), Jenkins ($38k + $5k) & Burns ($48k + $6k).
The undercard also has a women’s flyweight bout featured between the #15 ranked FW Casey O’Neill who takes on Luana Santos for $60k while Santos warrants a guaranteed purse of $38k as salary.
In addition, Saturday’s massive event also features early prelims, including a fight between Tom Nolan and Alex Reyes with each fighter guaranteed $30k each. Ricky Glenn vs Song Kenan is another welterweight bout that evening promising $75k to each athlete.
Additionally, Stewart Nicoll will open the card in a fight against the Mexican Jesus Aguilar with the UFC promising $12k for the Aussie and $38k for the Mexican fighter.
