A former UFC legend has revealed what he and Brock Lesnar were paid after one of the biggest fights in the history of the sport
Having reigned as champion in both the WWE and the UFC's heavyweight division, Lesnar is one of the biggest names in all of combat sports.
Perhaps the biggest fight of his career came during the historic UFC 100 event over 15 years ago, as he looked to defend his heavyweight championship from interim champion Frank Mir in the highly-anticipated main event of the evening.
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And years after the superfight, the payslips of both fighters were revealed by Mir, and they are shocking.
The fight between Lesnar and Mir is reported to have sold a then-record 1.6 million pay-per-views and produced over $71million (£56million) in revenue.
Despite this, the salaries for the event, which were publicly available at the time, showed that, Mir made just $45,000 (£35,000) for his defeat, while Lesnar earned $400,000 (£315,000), with both fees not including any bonuses added once pay-per-view sales were factored in.
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However, Mir later admitted that even with the bonus given to him due to the commercial success of the event, he didn’t even earn $1million (£790,000) for the fight with Lesnar.
Not only this, but the former champion revealed that he didn't make over $1million in any bout across his 15-year UFC career.
“I think when it finally dawned on me was the Deontay Wilder [rematch] with Tyson Fury,” Mir admitted to MMA Fighting.
“We still did more buys than they did, me and Brock, and then I’m looking at the pay-per-view cost. OK, the money was there. Who did it go to?
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“Seeing these guys make $40million combined. I’m like wow. Brock obviously made seven figures off it, I think he made $2.5 million. But I didn’t even make a million.
“Brock himself, a much bigger superstar than [Fury or Wilder]. How come he wasn’t making $20 million? That blows my mind, and I don’t understand it.
“Until Conor [McGregor] came along, we had the record for the most pay-per-view buys sold.”
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Mir admitted that at the time he didn't realise how little he earned compared to the profits that the UFC took home and now admits that the salary he earned didn’t come close to what he should have been making.
“At the time, I didn’t know better,” Mir continued.
“Why is this sport paying their athletes this percentage of what they’re making versus this one? It’s the pretty same makeup. This isn’t two wildly different sports, boxing and MMA.
“They’re very comparable when it comes to putting up a cage or a ring, so it’s not like the costs are different.
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“So what’s the difference here? Oh, that’s because you have competing promoters, and they know what’s going on, and you can’t screw each other. In the UFC, it’s the only promoter.
“In MMA, the show is the only promoter. It’s not like we’re going to have a Bellator fighter and a UFC fighter, and they’re both on the card, so both organisations know what they’re going to get their guy because they both understand the revenue models.
“They understand what’s going on. They’re not speaking from ignorance.”
Topics: UFC, Brock Lesnar, MMA
Ben McCrum