Both Khamzat Chimaev and Ilia Topuria were in the news leading up to UFC 308. While details about their fights were spoken at large, talks about money, affluence rather, did the rounds too. The curiosity was fuelled further when Chimaev claimed he made more more than some of the champions in the UFC, and Topuria showed his $2 million home gym.
Chimaev’s wins against Robert Whittaker and Topuria trumping Max Holloway in UFC 308 on Saturday reiterated that we are witnessing the ascension of a new generation in the sport. Needless to say, their earnings from Abu Dhabi matched their rising star status. But how much did they make from the fights?
The official purse is difficult to figure out unless a fighter reveals it. Based on market estimations by Marca, Topuria was set to make $750,000 for his fight. This doesn’t include bonuses, which he may yet be entitled to, given his newfound status as the only man on the planet to KO Holloway.
This amount also doesn’t have a percentage of the PPV sales guaranteed in the fighter’s contract. That could bring up the paycheck to anywhere between $1 and $3 million.
Chimaev’s bank account transaction after last night won’t be far behind either. According to SportySalaries, he pocketed a base salary of $500,000 for the fight. With the addition of a bonus, which he is entitled to since he broke Whittaker’s jaw with a face crank, and a portion of PPV sales, ‘Borz‘ is also expected to earn upward of $1 million.
However, the Chechen was subdued in his celebration after beating Whittaker.
Chimaev still a killer, but at least he’s nice about it
A chunk of Whittaker’s $400,000 earnings from his co-main event fight against Chimaev will go into fixing his jaw. Not to forget, the pain, distress and restrictions it would put him in. For a while at least, he will have to be careful even while sneezing as it could lead to the lower jaw getting displayed out of position.
Thankfully, the Aussie realized that he was outmatched as well as injured in round 1 of the fight itself. He tapped out or the damage might have been more. Whittaker has endured a few wars in his time but has never had a broken jaw because his opponent locked and squeezed it too hard.
It turns out, Chimaev, who inflicted so much pain, is a nice man.
While Whittaker wasn’t in much of a shape to talk, Chimaev took the opportunity to comment about about the regretable but ‘necessary’ situation.
“I felt something was wrong with his chin when I push it I felt bad for that. I didn’t mean to break somebody’s chin, but this is my work you know. Make somebody pain.”
That is a mature statement from a man who is known to quip in post-fight pressers that he wants to kill everybody.
This makes us wonder: Was the broken jaw the reason why the Kiwi tapped out so fast? And more importantly, is middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis watching?
Because if Chimaev manages to make it past Sean Strickland, would Du Plessis’ ‘drunken Kung Fu master’ style of fighting be enough to stop the ‘Chechen Express’?
