Analysed: Pride in the USA - MMAUniverse.com

There has always been a mystique surrounding how much fighters on the world’s biggest MMA event actually earn. The UFC’s pay scale has always been transparent since they are obliged to divulge it through the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Now of course that Pride have held a show under the auspices of the NSAC, they too have had to reveal their pay structure.

Pride 32: The Real Deal
Pay Scale

($100,000) Fedor Emelianenko vs Mark Coleman ($70,000)
($25,000) Mauricio Rua vs Kevin Randleman ($40,000)
($60,000) Josh Barnett vs Pawel Nastula ($20,000)
($30,000) Eric Esch vs Sean O'Haire ($15,000)
($50,000) Dan Henderson vs Vitor Belfort ($30,000)
($15,000) Phil Baroni vs Yosuke Nishijima ($15,000)
($10,000) Kazuhiro Nakamura vs Travis Galbraith ($2,000)
($10,000) Robbie Lawler vs Joey Villasenor ($3,000)

Although a far from disappointing pay day for the fighters involved, and it is believed there are “special bonuses” and PPV percentages paid out to some fighters, it is probably quite a way off what many fans expected. In fact these figures aren’t that far from what the UFC paid their fighters for UFC 64: Unstoppable, especially when you compare the star factor:

UFC 64: Unstoppable
Pay Scale

($50,000) Anderson Silva vs Rich Franklin ($21,000)
($22,000) Sean Sherk vs Kenny Florian ($8,000)
($12,000) Yushin Okami vs Kalib Starnes ($5,000)
($6,000) Carmello Marrero vs Cheick Kongo ($20,000)
($20,000) Jon Fitch vs Kuniyoshi Hironaka ($6,000)
($20,000) Spencer Fisher vs Dan Lauzon ($3,000)
($4,000) Kurt Pelligrino vs Junior Assuncao ($3,000)
($6,000) Clayton Guida vs Justin James ($3,000)

In other Pride 32: The Real Deal news:

According to the Thomas and Mack Center Director Daren Libonati, the live gate at the event was 11,721 which was calculated to haul in $3.8 Million for the MMA organisation.

The official number of Pay Per Views for the event is believed to be around the 100,000 mark, lacking behind the UFC but not too shabby at all for a debut. Pride President Nobuyuki Sakakibara said he hopes the lack of an eighteen hour time delay to North America will help double its total top pay-per-view buy to about 200,000.

So, a good showing for Pride in the USA and definitely a promising start. Pride will return to Las Vegas next year on 24th February.