Israel Adesanya is the Nigerian-born New Zealander MMA artist who currently fights in the middleweight division of the UFC and has a solid record of 23 wins out of his 24 MMA appearances with 15 knockout records. The last Stylebender lost his only bout against Jan Błachowicz in his light heavyweight debut for the UFC light heavyweight title.
Now Adesanya is set to face Alex Pereira at UFC 281’s main event to defend the UFC middleweight title. Alex Pereira is a Brazilian MMA artist who holds a record of five wins out of his six octagon appearances and lost his only bout against Quemuel Ottoni in his MMA debut in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
But the face-off has drawn huge attention as both fighters come from kickboxing backgrounds. In his kickboxing career, Pereira is a legend as the Brazilian held the Glory middleweight and light heavyweight titles, whereas Adesanya appeared in 80 matches and won 75 times but never won a major title in his kickboxing career.
Adesanya is unstoppable in the octagon but has never won a fight against Pereira, so it will be a legitimate source of excitement for combat sports fans to watch that bout. Let us take a look at the fight between these two middleweight contenders.
Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira purse, payouts, salaries
Even though the UFC keeps the salaries of its athlete’s secret, we can still get a good idea of how much each fighter makes by looking at their previous fights, our UFC insider data, and information from many news outlets, authors, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Without further ado, let’s deep dive into the fight purse and payouts of Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira.
How much will Israel Adesanya make at UFC 281?
Adesanya’s bout on UFC 221 against Rob Wilkinson earned him a small purse of $153,500 on February 11, 2018. But as “The Last Stylebender” rose through the ranks of the middleweight division, his fight purse got bigger. Namely, his first fight with Robert Whittaker earned him a hefty total of $1,090,000 and the UFC middleweight title.
Since becoming champion, Adesanya has bagged around $1 million in fight purses. But his first title defense bout against Yoel Romero earned him a huge payday—a unanimous decision win earned him $790,000.
Israel Adesanya will reportedly earn a guaranteed purse of $1 million along with sponsorship deals and PPV revenue; after calculating all the payments, Adesanya will be grabbing a lofty total of $1.3 million for his upcoming title defending bout.
How much will Alex Pereira make at UFC 281?
At the beginning of his career, Alex Pereira made a meager purse of $134,000 for a TKO victory against Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268. The Brazilian saw a rise in pay as he started fighting big names. His fight against Sean Strickland at UFC 276 earned him a hefty purse of $188,000.
For the upcoming bout against Adesanya at UFC 281, Pereira is set to bag a lofty guaranteed purse of $250,000, with the sponsorship deals and the PPV share, the Brazilian will grab a whopping $370,000 for the fight, which will be the highest payday for him.
