On Saturday night, Brock Lesnar earned a healthy payday for his highly-anticipated Octagon return.
The WWE Superstar, who competed in what WWE has called a “one-off” match for the UFC at their landmark UFC 200 event this past Saturday night, earned a $2.5 million purse, according to veteran fight reporter Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
Iole did not specify whether or not Lesnar’s deal calls for a percentage of the profits generated on pay-per-view, a perk he enjoyed while fighting for the UFC in the past. The UFC financial model for fighters also generally includes a number of undisclosed bonuses, so when all is said and done, Lesnar will likely earn well beyond the reported $2.5 million figure.
It is reportedly the most guaranteed money a UFC fighter has ever gotten with 1.0 million (Conor McGregor in March) being the previous high for a UFC fighter.
It’s also worth noting that because of the unique situation of an active contracted WWE performer fighting on a major UFC pay-per-view, UFC President Dana White noted that the deal, which was negotiated between himself on the UFC side and Vince McMahon and Triple H on the WWE side, will also call for some promotion for WWE on the actual UFC 200 pay-per-view broadcast.
Brock Lesnar's purse tonight is $2.5 million
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 9, 2016
Just for comparison, here are what the other fighters are making:
Other purses: Hunt 700k, Tate 500k, Aldo 400k, Spider Silva 600k, Cain 300k, Travis 120k, Edgar 190k, Nunes 100k
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 9, 2016