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Betcha didn’t know this: How much do UFC fighters get paid?

Chris Graham

ufclogo4What would you think a guy like Nate Quarry, a former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter, would get for a main-event title fight on a UFC pay-per-view?

No way you’d guess $10,000.

“I fought for the world title for $10,000,” Quarry wrote on his blog of his fight against then-UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 56 in 2005.

Granted, that was nine years ago, but still, $10,000?

“Not a penny more. No bonus. No cut of the pay-per-view,” Quarry wrote.

Perhaps worse was the form email that Quarry received when he retired that reminded him that “should you choose to fight again you are still under contract with the UFC.”

“I didn’t even get a hard copy with a real signature that I could frame,” Quarry wrote.

“I know it’s a business,” Quarry noted. “And that’s the best piece of advice I can give to wanna be fighters. Fight for the love of the game. But you better treat it like a business. Because the promoter handing you a contract sure will.”

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].