With a world championship on the line and the main card packed with veterans and rising stars, UFC 277 was a highly anticipated and crowded event. There were spectacular knockouts and brave decision triumphs, but the true winners were the onlookers.
The main event pitted welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) against Leon Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC). Leon seemed to be losing until he landed the head kick in the last round, which caused Kamaru, the reigning Welterweight Champion, to be knocked out.
The co-main event saw the return of former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (16-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC), who faced Paulo Costa for the first time in more than three years (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) and suffered a unanimous decision loss.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at how much the participants will earn from their UFC 278 fights.
Although the UFC keeps athlete pay private, we can estimate each fighter’s earnings based on previous matches, our UFC insider data, multiple news outlets, authors, and Nevada State Athletic Commission data. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the UFC 276 fighter compensation, wages, and incentive pay.
Fight week incentives include compensation for outfitting requirements, media responsibilities, and other fighter code of conduct things. Last but not least, PPV revenue is not included in the following payouts.
| Fighters | Guaranteed Purse | Win Bonus | Sponsorship | Total |
| Kamaru Usman | $750k | $100k | $42k | $892k |
| Leon Edwards | $400k | – | $32k | $432k |
| Paulo Costa | $500k | $100k | $5k | $605k |
| Luke Rockhold | $200k | – | $10k | $210k |
| Jose Aldo | $300k | $100k | $15k | $415k |
| Merab Dvalishvili | $50k | – | $5k | $55k |
| Wu Yanan | $20k | $20k | $5k | $45k |
| Lucie Pudilova | $20k | – | $5k | $25k |
| Tyson Pedro | $20k | – | $5k | $25k |
| Harry Hunsucker | $12k | $12k | $4k | $28k |
| Marcin Tybura | $100k | $100k | $15k | $215k |
| Alexander Romanov | $30k | – | $5k | $35k |
| Leonardo Santos | $60k | $60k | $10k | $130k |
| Jared Gordon | $25k | – | $10k | $35k |
| Sean Woodson | $20k | $20k | $5k | $45k |
| Luis Saldana | $30k | – | $5k | $35k |
| Miranda Maverick | $22k | $22k | $5k | $49k |
| Shanna Young | $20k | – | $4k | $24k |
| A J Fletcher | $12k | $12k | $4k | $28k |
| Ange Loosa | $12k | $12k | $4k | $28k |
| Amir Albazi | $14k | $14k | $4k | $32k |
| F Figueiredo | $20k | – | $4k | $24k |
| Aori Qileng | $18k | – | $4k | $22k |
| Jay Perrin | $12k | $12k | $4k | $28k |
| Daniel Lacerda | $12k | $12k | $4k | $28k |
| Victor Altamirano | $12k | $12k | $4k | $28k |
- Fight of the Night – $100k
- Performance of the Night – $50k
