UFC HIGHEST EARNERS PER STRIKE
Ever wondered how much money UFC fighters made for each strike that they landed, in some of the most high-profile fights in the sport’s history?
How much has each attempted, and successful strike of the world’s most famous mixed martial artists added to their bank balance?
We have tallied the data and here’s what it has to say.
| Fight | Fight Name | Fighter | Money Received For Showing Up | Total Strikes | Successful Strikes | Money per Strike | Money per Successful Strike | Opponent | Money Received By Opponent For Showing Up | Opponent Total Strikes | Opponent Succesful Strikes | Opponent Money Per Strike | Opponent Money per Successful Strike | Fight Result |
| UFC 207 | Ronda Rousey vs Amanda Nunes | Ronda Rousey | $3,000,000.00 | 14 | 7 | $214,285.71 | $428,571.43 | Amanda Nunes | $100,000.00 | 47 | 27 | $2,127.66 | $3,703.70 | Amanda Nunes wins by TKO |
| UFC 218 | Alistair Overeem vs Francis Ngannou | Alistair Overeem | $850,000.00 | 4 | 1 | $212,500.00 | $850,000.00 | Francis Ngannou | $40,000.00 | 14 | 6 | $2,857.14 | $6,666.67 | Francis Ngannou wins by KO |
| UFC 264 | Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier | Conor McGregor | $5,000,000.00 | 54 | 43 | $92,592.59 | $116,279.07 | Dustin Poirier | $1,000,000.00 | 66 | 36 | $15,151.52 | $27,777.78 | Dustin Poirier wins by TKO |
| UFC 194 | Conor McGregor vs Jose Aldo | Conor McGregor | $500,000.00 | 6 | 5 | $83,333.33 | $100,000.00 | Jose Aldo | $400,000.00 | 3 | 1 | $133,333.33 | $400,000.00 | Connor McGregor wins by KO |
| UFC 242 | Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Dustin Poirier | Khabib Nurmagomedov | $6,000,000.00 | 77 | 54 | $77,922.08 | $111,111.11 | Dustin Poirier | $250,000.00 | 39 | 12 | $6,410.26 | $20,833.33 | Khabib Nurmagomedov wins by submission |
| UFC 254 | Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Justin Gaethje | Khabib Nurmagomedov | $6,000,000.00 | 80 | 26 | $75,000.00 | $230,769.23 | Justin Gaethje | $400,000.00 | 45 | 29 | $8,888.89 | $13,793.10 | Khabib Nurmagomedov wins by submission |
| UFC 203 | Alistair Overeem vs Stipe Miocic | Alistair Overeem | $860,000.00 | 17 | 9 | $50,588.24 | $95,555.56 | Stipe Miocic | $600,000.00 | 60 | 34 | $10,000.00 | $17,647.06 | Stipe Miocic wins by KO |
| UFC 257 | Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier | Conor McGregor | $3,000,000.00 | 92 | 52 | $32,608.70 | $57,692.31 | Dustin Poirier | $1,000,000.00 | 91 | 48 | $10,989.01 | $20,833.33 | Dustin Poirier wins by TKO |
| UFC 229 | Khabib vs McGregor | Conor McGregor | $3,000,000.00 | 128 | 96 | $23,437.50 | $31,250.00 | Khabib Nurmagomedov | $2,000,000.00 | 128 | 96 | $15,625.00 | $20,833.33 | Khabib Nurmagomedov wins by submission |
| UFC 217 | Georges St. Pierre vs Michael Bisping | Georges St. Pierre | $2,500,000.00 | 131 | 68 | $19,083.97 | $36,764.71 | Michael Bisping | $540,000.00 | 128 | 49 | $4,218.75 | $11,020.41 | Georges St Pierre wins by submission |
| UFC 229 | Khabib vs McGregor | Khabib Nurmagomedov | $2,000,000.00 | 128 | 96 | $15,625.00 | $20,833.33 | Conor McGregor | $3,000,000.00 | 128 | 96 | $23,437.50 | $31,250.00 | Khabib Nurmagomedov wins by submission |
| UFC 264 | Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier | Dustin Poirier | $1,000,000.00 | 66 | 36 | $15,151.52 | $27,777.78 | Conor McGregor | $5,000,000.00 | 54 | 43 | $92,592.59 | $116,279.07 | Dustin Poirier wins by TKO |
| UFC 200 | Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt | Brock Lesnar | $2,500,000.00 | 167 | 137 | $14,970.06 | $18,248.18 | Mark Hunt | $710,000.00 | 68 | 46 | $10,441.18 | $15,434.78 | No Contest |
| UFC 202 | Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor | Conor McGregor | $3,000,000.00 | 322 | 197 | $9,316.77 | $15,228.43 | Nate Diaz | $2,000,000.00 | 435 | 252 | $4,597.70 | $7,936.51 | Connor McGregor wins by decision |
| UFC 208 | Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson | Anderson Silva | $820,000.00 | 89 | 54 | $9,213.48 | $15,185.19 | Derek Brunson | $53,000.00 | 101 | 54 | $524.75 | $981.48 | Anderson Silva wins by decision |
| UFC 202 | Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor | Nate Diaz | $2,000,000.00 | 435 | 252 | $4,597.70 | $7,936.51 | Conor McGregor | $3,000,000.00 | 322 | 197 | $9,316.77 | $15,228.43 | Connor McGregor wins by decision |
Ronda Rousey lost to Amanda Nunes in the octagon but still made more money per strike - more than anyone else.
UFC 207 saw Ronda Rousey make her first appearance in the octagon after relinquishing her bantamweight title and undefeated record to Holly Holm.
Rousey was unsuccessful in her bid to regain the bantamweight championship, with Amanda Nunes picking up a TKO win in just 48 seconds.
Rousey only attempted 14 strikes in the matchup, landing 7 of them. Nunes outclassed the American, attempting 47 strikes and connecting on 27 of them. Despite Nunes being the better fighter, Rousey, at the time, was a bigger draw which can be seen by the $3,000,000 she received a payout. This figure was significantly higher than the $100,000 that Nunes received.
Combine that with the lesser amount of strikes Rousey had and you have the highest money received per strike among all UFC fights - $214,285.71. For each strike that she connected on, Rousey earned $428,571.43.
THE MEN WHO EARNED THE MOST PER STRIKE
Alistair Overeem’s $212,500 earned per strike in his loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC 218 is the most a man earned per strike in UFC history. Overeem only landed a single strike against Ngannou, earning a cool $850,000 for it.
Overall, Connor McGregor got the most buck out of his banging strikes, raking in $241,288.19 per strike in five different fights.
EARNING MORE PER STRIKE DOESN’T GUARANTEE A WIN
A higher guaranteed payout is an indication that you’re a bigger draw. This shows up in an interesting way in our analysis where six times out of 13, the fighter with higher money earned per strike ended up on the losing end.
Khabib Nurgagomedov, of course, has a 100 percent winning record when he’s the bigger draw. At UFC 229, he had a lesser guaranteed payout than Connor McGregor and earned less per strike than the Irishman. He did walk away with the title and gave us the iconic moment of jumping over the cage and scaring the life out of Drake.
THE BLOCKBUSTER FIGHTS FOR MONEY EARNED PER STRIKE
UFC 229, 264, and 202 saw both fighters raking in some serious money per strike.
All of these fights had one common factor - Connor McGregor.
In each of the fights, he had a higher guaranteed payout than his opponent. Funnily enough, he lost all of them. McGregor’s drawing power definitely helped his opponents as they made enough to feature in this list for money made per strike.
METHODOLOGY
- We calculated money made per strike by only using the disclosed earnings for the fighters.
- PPV earnings, sponsor money, and insurance deductions are not considered as there is no officially disclosed figure for these
- We looked at official UFC stats for the strike details and divided the earnings by the number of strikes and successful strikes to determine the money earned per strike/successful strike
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