UFC 249 salaries: Tony Ferguson banks $500,000, Justin Gaethje $350,000

The salaries have been released for UFC 249, and headliner Tony Ferguson topped the list with a $500,000 payday for this main event fight.

According to the numbers obtained by MMA reporter Jed I. Goodman from the Florida State Boxing Commission, Ferguson was the highest-paid fighter at the event at $500,000, while his opponent Justin Gaethje earned $350,000. Co-headliner Henry Cejudo also earned $350,000 for his co-main event fight against Dominick Cruz, who earned $300,000 for his return bout at UFC 249.

Take a full list of the UFC 249 salaries below. Note that these salaries represent the show money and in the case of the winners, their win money has been added to the total.

One more time, here are the purses for #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/vnTAdQVTep

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 12, 2020

UFC 249 PPV Main Card Salaries

Justin Gaethje ($350,000) def. Tony Ferguson ($500,000)
Henry Cejudo ($350,000) def. Dominick Cruz ($300,000)
Francis Ngannou ($260,000) def. Jairzinho Rozenstruik ($80,000)
Calvin Kattar ($116,100) def. Jeremy Stephens ($46,900)
Greg Hardy ($180,000) def. Yorgan de Castro ($12,000)

UFC 249 Preliminary Card Salaries

Anthony Pettis ($310,000) def. Donald Cerrone ($200,000)
Aleksei Oleinik ($160,000) def. Fabricio Werdum ($100,000)
Carla Esparza ($102,000) def. Michelle Waterson ($60,000)
Vicente Luque ($180,000) def. Niko Price ($57,000)
Bryce Mitchell ($54,000) def. Charles Rosa ($24,000)
Ryan Spann ($50,000) def. Sam Alvey ($65,000)

These UFC 249 salary numbers do not include the post-fight bonus awards, so you can add an extra $100,000 to Gaethje and $50,000 extra to Ferguson and Ngannou. It also doesn’t include the Reebok fighter kit pay. Note that Stephens gave up 30 percent of his purse for missing weight, which went to Kattar.

On the high end, you have Ferguson making $500,000 flat to headline the card. That’s a nice payday relative to most MMA fighters, but considering he was headlining a card that is expected to be a huge PPV blockbuster for the UFC, the number is light when you compare it to what a superstar like Conor McGregor would make. But on the low end, you have a fighter like de Castro, who was paid only $12,000 despite the risks of fighting at the event.

Overall, these paydays are actually on the higher side of a typical UFC card. Many of the preliminary fighters made well over six figures for their fights, which typically is the kind of number that is reserved for headliners and superstars. But considering how many big names were on the undercard, the higher salaries make sense for UFC 249.

What do you think about the UFC 249 salaries?