Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington pocket big paydays to lead UFC 245 salaries
It pays to be in the UFC 245 main event.
Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and top-ranked contender Colby Covington will both pocket a $500,000 guaranteed payday for their fight that headlines the card from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirmed salary figures to MMA Fighting on Friday with Usman and Covington leading the entire card.
The half-million payday is a flat, guaranteed fee for both Usman and Covington so neither one of them stands to make a win bonus based on the outcome on Saturday night.
Usman and Covington had disputes with the UFC over their pay, which ultimately forced the promotion to forgo making the welterweight title fight as the headliner for the UFC 244 card in New York. Deals were eventually struck with both fighters and now Usman and Covington will square off at UFC 245 instead.
Former featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who will be making his bantamweight debut this weekend, is the next highest-paid fighter on the card with a guaranteed purse of $400,000 with another $50,000 bonus if he’s victorious in his fight with Marlon Moraes.
Reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes could potentially end up as the third-highest paid fighter on the card as she will make $350,000 up front for her title fight with another $100,000 coming her way if she’s victorious.
Meanwhile, Germaine de Randamie will take home $100,000 flat as she seeks to win her second UFC title after becoming the inaugural featherweight champion back in 2017.
The co-main event between featherweight champion Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski will also feature a pair of guaranteed paydays. Holloway will take home $350,000 as champion with Volkanovski making $250,000 as the challenger.
Here are the full salaries along with win bonuses ahead of UFC 245:
Kamaru Usman: $500,000
Colby Covington: $500,000
Max Holloway: $350,000
Alexander Volkanovski: $250,000
Amanda Nunes: $350,000 to show, $100,000 to win
Germaine de Randamie: $100,000
Marlon Moraes: $110,000 to show, $110,000 to win
Jose Aldo: $400,000 to show, $50,000 to win
Petr Yan: $66,000 to show, $66,000 to win
Urijah Faber: $250,000
Mike Perry: $90,000 to show, $90,000 to win
Geoff Neal: $31,000 to show, $31,000 to win
Ketlen Vieira: $33,000 to show, $33,000 to win
Irene Aldana: $40,000 to show, $40,000 to win
Ian Heinisch: $25,000 to show, $25,000 to win
Omari Akhemedov: $55,000 to show, $55,000 to win
Matt Brown: $80,000 to show, $80,000 to win
Ben Saunders: $35,000 to show, $35,000 to win
Chase Hooper: $24,000 to show, $24,000 to win
Daniel Teymur: $18,000 to show, $18,000 to win
Brandon Moreno: $31,000 to show, $31,000 to win
Kai-Kara France: $25,000 to show, $25,000 to win
Jessica Eye: $48,000 to show, $48,000 to win (Eye will pay $14,400 of her show money as penalty for missing weight on Friday)
Viviane Araujo: $45,000 to show, $45,000 to win
Puna Soriano: $10,000 to show, $10,000 to win
Oskar Piechota: $20,000 to show, $20,000 to win