According to the MMA breakdown, the average UFC fighter brought in a salary of 148 thousand dollars in the year 2020, a number that stood as an all-time high for the roster, though backroom bonuses and official cuts of pay-per-view revenue are not officially released. We can still get a good idea of how these athletes are doing, based on the various streams of income that are made accessible to us event by event, so, with an eye on the show and win purses performance bonuses, and all publicly known sponsorship. Money here is the 10 fighters who managed to take home the biggest salaries of the year 2020.
1. Stipe Miocic – Seven Hundred Thirty thousand dollars.
Stipe Miocic managed to put his long and arduous rivalry with Daniel Cormier to bed once and for all. In 2020 finishing their trilogy with a unanimous decision victory and while that stood as his only appearance of the year, he still managed to take home nearly eight hundred thousand dollars for his troubles, known to most as the single greatest heavyweight in UFC history. Miocic will no doubt be poised for some of the biggest fights of his career. From this point onwards, already a record holder in terms of divisional title defenses Stipe will be forced to contend with the next generation of heavyweight hopefuls, as the sport’s most dangerous division enjoys something of a resurgence.
2. Alistair Overeem, Eight Hundred Thirty thousand dollars.
The legendary Alistair Overeem certainly deserves a huge amount of credit for how he has managed to sustain his longevity. Over the years, though, technically past his prime, in the eyes of the fans in 2020, ovary managed to bring home a perfect 2-0 record beating down Walt harris and Augusto Sakai to move right back into tidal contention. He’s not as quick nor is he as durable as he once was, but Overeem's ability to modify his style to not only survive but thrive. There has been incredibly surprising to behold an icon of the division in every sense of the word.
3. Anthony Pettis Eight Hundred Fifty-Five Thousand dollars
Though now departed for the NFL Anthony Pettis bowed out of the top flight on the back of an impressive two-in-one year, that saw him defeat both Alex Morano and Donald Cerrone. A fan favorite in every sense of the word. Pettis has wowed supporters of this sport for over a decade now innovating MMA, the striking game through his utilization of flashy taekwondo techniques and while he never truly regained the type of form necessary to earn UFC gold again after losing it first in 2015, this octagon legend fought Some of the era’s very best across three different weight classes, always ensuring that the fans got their money’s worth when showtime came to town.
4. Davison Figueiredo, Eight Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand dollars
It’s hard, not to be happy at the site of a resurgent 125-pound division. After that, quite frankly, ridiculous speculation about its long-term future in the UFC a few years ago and while Henry Cejudo certainly played his part, it has truly been Davis Figueiredo, who stepped up to be a type of attraction that flyweight needed through his vicious finishing instincts And his newly blossoming rivalry with Brandon Moreno. Figueiredo has taken his rightful spot among the sport’s biggest earners, even if he had to work for it. Four octagon outings in 2020, made the 125-pound champion the most active competitor on this list, and with that hard work in his back pocket, he will no doubt be looking for an even greater level of success in 2021.
5. Jose Aldo, nine hundred thousand dollars
Jose Aldo's Bantamweight successes certainly came as a surprise to those who once thought that the Brazilian might be better served with a move up to 155 pounds. However, despite going one and two at 135 pounds, the close nature of his narrow defeat to Marlon Mirai and the fact that his other loss came to the champ Pyotr yawn has filled fans of Aldo with the hope of biting twice in the year 2020 Aldo left the year. In the win column, after an impressive shutdown of the contender Marlon vera in December, leaving his total earnings just shy of the 1 million mark, not a bad year for this future Hall of Famer by any means, as he looks to build on this new lease of life.
6. Justin Gaethje, Nine Hundred Twenty Thousand dollars
Justin Gaethje simply deserves every bit of good fortune, that comes his way. An electric fighter who always manages to put on a show, win, lose or draw Gaethje had the unenviable task of taking on both Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov within the same calendar year, and while he would take home one win and one loss. By the time 2020 was through as the fifth highest-paid fighter of the year. He certainly was compensated after thoroughly beating down tony Ferguson over five rounds. Gaethje just looked to be a different breed of fighter in comparison to the more reckless approach of his early years and while sure his loss to the champ Khabib was a disappointment. It was by no means a devastating loss, leaving Gaethje as a very live threat within the 155-pound picture.
7. Israel Adesanya one million two hundred thirty thousand dollars,
Israel Adesanya’s ascent to UFC stardom happened faster than most of us remember upon signing For the promotion in 2018, his rise was a quick, efficient, and completely ruthless jump forward. Two years and Adesanya were already two defenses into his reign as middleweight champion besting, both paolo costa and Juel Romero was no easy feat, but for his efforts, the last style bender became one of just four fighters within the UFC to pass the one million dollar mark. In disclosed pay, the scary thing about this crafty striker is that he is still very clearly getting better, adding new wrinkles to his already stellar grasp of the MMA skill set and his talents. His ambition is also growing to make him a candidate who is very likely to move further up this list. In the coming years,
8. Junior dos Santos, one million five hundred sixty thousand dollars
After his long years of service in the sport’s most inherently risky division. It’s pretty good to see the former champion junior de Santos getting fairly compensated at this later stage of his career, because as much as his decision to take three fights during the global pandemic was commendable, how he lost all three of them each coming by way of TKO is certainly a cause for concern. Jds is a legend in every sense of the word, but when you hang around the top for so long, there’s every chance that you’ll eventually end up being served up to the newer breed of contender, and while dos Santos can still find his way into some fun. Fights within the heavyweight top 15, it’s likely that his days as an elite fixture are over.
9. Conor McGregor, three million sixty thousand dollars.
Indeed, if we were counting undisclosed, pay-per-view revenue, and cuts, you’d be looking at our number one right here, but for Conor McGregor, just over 3 million in official pay is far from the end of the story. Given his numerous successful business endeavors and his huge pay-per-view numbers at UFC, 246 against Donald Cerrone in January, you can be certain that this Irishman's salary for the year was well into the eight-figure range and when he considered that he only turned in 40 seconds of octagon Time all year, it’s hard not to be impressed by this man’s ability to generate income with him. Now it’s something of a crossroads in his pursuit of the UFC’s lightweight title. Who knows if he can find the form and consistency again to regain his momentum as an elite talent if one thing’s for certain? However, it’s that he will without question be making some serious bank, as he tries to answer that question.
10. Khabib Nurmagomedov, six million.
Ninety thousand dollars 2020 was most certainly the year of Khabib Nurmagomedov, despite his rather sudden exit from the sport at UFC 254. You honestly couldn’t have written a better swan song if Nurmagomedov is truly finished, though he fought just one time. In 2020, Khabib managed to put on one of the most impressive performances of his career slicing through the defenses of Justin Gaichi on his way to a second-round submission victory. It was a master class in every sense of the word and, judging by his hefty six million dollars guaranteed pay rate. The UFC had faith in his ability to perform like McGregor before him. Khabib is also in a highly desirable position financially and in reality, likely passed into eight figures by the time December came and went, all in all, he took the top spot on our list.