The yearly grind is progressing with the 12th numbered card at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, this Saturday. A primal strike fest caps off the UFC 308 pay-per-view (ESPN+ PPV) top bill when Ilia Topuria defends against Max Holloway. It’s a fight that can earn them big purses and big legacies for years to come. Hence, ahead of the pay-per-view main event, fans are wondering what the payout will be like for the consensus boxer duo. It’s the same sentiment for Chechen ‘Borz’ and bogeyman Khamzat Chimaev.
‘Matador’ Topuria makes his first defense against Max Holloway. Since winning gold this February, he has been seeing quite a surge in superstardom. A surge that has seen him dreaming of banking big payouts and making bigger marks. The Spaniard Ilia Topuria recently made the Forbes España’s ’30 Under 30′ list. ‘El Matador’ has plans to be the world’s highest-paid athlete by 2025-end and is also dreaming of a dual-division dip.
Before the UFC 145-pound champion won his strap, only consensus PPV buyout superstar Conor McGregor was on the list of the 10 highest-paid sportsmen. Meanwhile, Holloway is already an industry stalwart and can earn a big purse as well. “Blessed” returned to lightweight after five years as well, and is now dropping down to 145. He won the “BMF” silver strap at 155 lbs over Justin Gaethje at the UFC 300 PPV event.
While UFC and athletic commissions no longer release the fighter salaries, here is a look into the UFC 308 projected paydays. It is based on what both fighters have made so far and their PPV spotlight.
Salary of Ilia Topuria at UFC 308
When Ilia Topuria makes the walk atop the Pay-per-view main card, 2 p.m. ET at Ethiad Arena, the Alicante-Georgian is already at the pinnacle of a pocket of superstardom of his own. Well on his way to establishing himself as the only true star, Topuria can yet again pocket a big purse for this pay-per-view (PPV) assignment.
Before UFC 308, Ilia Topuria reported making within a disclosed bracket of $350,000 ($532k all in) for his win over Alexander Volkanovski. This almost edged near the million mark along with brand and PPV sales. Before that, he edged out Josh Emmett, with a base salary of $80,000, along with a $50,000 bonus.
Topuria‘s base salary payout will be around the $750,000 mark as the champion. If he wins and retains, the sum can easily inflate to around $2 million. The comprehensive UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay also appropriate extra from Venum’s multi-year outfitting sponsorship. Notwithstanding experience-based pay, it sees champs earning perpetuity royalty payments. The “Topuria” brand earns a perpetuity royalty bonus for merch sold in their likeness.
RYU Apparel Inc. sponsored his 2021 hash-off; Kanpai Pandas (Kanpai collective) maintains a sponsorship pipeline and touts their “El Matador” tees. The fighter can make quite an extra load in royalty merch sales. After UFC 304, 305, and 306, he also got his own thematic Venum custom kit. The playable royalty skin for the EA Sports™ UFC® 5 game is already out and about.
Salary of Max Holloway at UFC 308
For the challenger, ‘Blessed’ has earned several seven-figure paydays in his career to date. Some of the biggest include $1,050,000 against Brian Ortega and around $2m in fight purses from the three Volkanovski fights. Per InsideSport and MMA Salaries, there are also several others over $300,000 payouts over the years. Much like Ilia Topuria making his maiden defense, UFC 308 payouts could be the biggest one yet for Max Holloway.
For his part, Holloway took part in the UFC 300 event and pocketed $2.1 million. He also received two $300,000 fight bonuses plus pay-per-view, totaling $2.7 million plus. He had asked for the thematic bonus change for the milestone April pay-per-view. However, this time he is reeling with some heavy-handed intentions and might make similar.
Max Holloway can also make a big fight purse (Source: ibtimes.com)Max, along with his wife and 83rd seed by World Surf League Alessa Quizon, have a brand lining with multiple sports brands. Along with the likes of Sean O’Malley, the Hawaiian is also the brand face for Sanabul Sports (@sanabul) fight apparel. The fighter has at least three or more Sanabul training kit product lines and perpetuity royalty payouts set under him.
The adjusted payment, post Zuffa-era WEC/Strikeforce phase, is $32000 to enter. Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, Holloway earns a base salary of $500,000 overall. But that could go up to the one or two million mark as well. If he causes an upset at UFC 308 and wins back the belt, his payday and stock will go up for ages.
Salary of Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308
Khamzat Chimaev meets Aussie ‘Reaper’ Robert Whittaker in the UFC 308 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event bill. His ESPN+PPV appearance (10 a.m. ET Prelims | 2 p.m. ET Main Card) will be the first one since UFC 294, right around this time last year. The Team Allstars Training Center brawler dropped out of his June billing once again due to camp illness. But make no mistake, the boogeyman still knows the game and is worth all his big bucks and payouts.
Khamzat Chimaev can spike a big payout in his return fight (Source: es.agfight.com)Whittaker has a reported base salary of around $400,000 and will earn a purse right around that. The Chechen though reportedly has a base salary of $1 million and can earn even more. Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is 3-0 in UFC middleweight competition and yet undefeated.
In July 2020, Chimaev recorded the fastest 10-day winning streak in UFC history with two wins in 10 days. He has received five fight-night bonuses in seven UFC appearances. A top spotlight berserker, Chimaev can make similar paydays this weekend.
