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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
When commissions release the "disclosed earnings" out of UFC events, it's rarely the full picture of fighter pay for those at the top end of the scale. UFC commentator Joe Rogan discussed it earlier this week on his podcast when speaking with UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, and pointed out Georges St-Pierre specifically as a fighter who made considerably more than what the official earnings showed.
"When you look at pay, there's a pay that's listed as far as the purse you get after the fight. That doesn't take into account a lot of factors," Rogan argued (transcribed by MMAFighting.com). "There's a lot of things they want to remain private. You're not just getting paid that amount. Some people are. But when a guy is selling tickets, a big name fighter, there's a lot of factors in there. Incentives, pieces of Pay Per View. Georges St-Pierre was making $5 million a fight."
"He's making a lot of f***ing money. He's got sponsors, Gatorade, all this other stuff. Other revenue coming in. Georges St-Pierre made a f*** load of money fighting."
Penick's Analysis: St-Pierre is obviously an outlier, but fighters like Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, and these days Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey, those are the ones making a lot more beyond the disclosed earnings. Those down the ranks are getting a lot closer to what the disclosed earnings are, and sometimes no more than that. But a lot of fighters get at least a little something more than what those numbers show.
[Georges St-Pierre art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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