Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington top UFC 245 fighter salaries, but just barely

UFC 245 was topped by three championship fights, but one of those fights easily stood out from the others, as was reflected in the UFC 245 fighter payroll. 

Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington’s welterweight title fight was the headliner for a reason, because that’s the fight that people were paying their money to see. Bad blood sells.

Not surprisingly, Usman and Covington topped the payroll, each man earning a $500,000 flat fee on the disclosed payroll. 

The UFC sunk a lot of money into the UFC 245 fight card, which isn’t surprising with three champions putting belts on the line. 

UFC double-division women’s champion Amanda Nunes was right behind Usman and Covington, earning $450,000 in her bantamweight title defense. Former men’s featherweight champion Jose Aldo wasn’t far behind that, earning $400,000 for his bantamweight debut. 

The figures in the reported UFC 245 fighter salaries below represent the disclosed payroll submitted to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Any other discretionary bonuses, pay-per-view points, etc., are not disclosed to the regulatory body and are not included here.

UFC 245: Usman vs. Covington took place on Saturday, Dec. 14, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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UFC 245: Usman vs. Covington Fighter Salaries

• Kamaru Usman: $500,000 (no win bonus) def. Colby Covington: $500,000
• Alexander Volkanovski: $250,000 (no win bonus) def. Max Holloway: $350,000
• Amanda Nunes: $450,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus) def. Germaine de Randamie: $100,000
• Marlon Moraes: $220,000 (includes $110,000 win bonus) def. Jose Aldo: $400,000
• Petr Yan: $132,000 (includes $66,000 win bonus) def. Urijah Faber: $250,000
• Geoff Neal: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus) def. Mike Perry: $90,000
• Irene Aldana: $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus) def. Ketlen Vieira: $33,000
• Omari Akhemedov: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus) def. Ian Heinisch: $25,000
• Matt Brown: $160,000 (includes $80,000 win bonus) def. Ben Saunders: $35,000
• Chase Hooper: $48,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus) def. Daniel Teymur: $18,000
• Brandon Moreno: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus) def. Kai-Kara France: $25,000
• Jessica Eye: $81,600 (includes $48,000 win bonus) def. Viviane Araujo: $59,400*
• Punahele Soriano: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Oskar Piechota: $20,000

*Eye forfeited $14,400 of her show money to Araujo for missing weight