Dan Hardy revealed the purse he received for fighting Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight title, it's eye-opening.
Four consecutive wins inside the famed Octagon saw 'The Outlaw' land a UFC title shot against reigning and defending champion St-Pierre.
He beat Akihiro Gono, Rory Markham, Marcus Davis and Mike Swick to become the No.1 UFC welterweight contender.
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Hardy faced St-Pierre at UFC 111 back in March 2010, but lost a lopsided decision - with the judges scoring the bout 50-43, 50-44, 50-45.
Despite facing the undisputed UFC title holder at 170lbs and one of the promotion's biggest names, the Nottingham fighter's payslip didn't reflect the stature of the championship bout.
He was paid just $24,000 for his title fight against 'GSP' but ultimately walked away with a measly $5,400 after expenses and taxes.
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"Realistically, people see the purse and they think 'Oh that is a big chunk of cash' that is going straight into that persons bank account and that they are living pretty for a few months. But, they don’t take into account that there is 10 percent for a manager," he said in an interview with The British Entrepreneur.
"You know, 10 to 20 percent for coaches. Plus you have all the expenses and taxes. You know, sometimes you have to buy more flights for your team. You get to the event and you have to buy more hotel rooms for them and that kind of stuff.
"I mean as an idea, and I was never any good at negotiating contracts. I never asked for more money. Because I just wasn’t really interested in it and that was my mistake at the time I think.
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"But, so I fought GSP for twenty-four thousand dollars. So the money I put in my bank account after that fight had happened was five thousand four hundred dollars. And that was a world title fight from 10-11 years ago."
In comparison, St-Pierre pocketed a cool $4 million to $5 million after bagging pay-per-view points.
"But, the thing is he got four or five million because he was on pay-per-view points, as well as his purse," Hardy added. "I mean, you know we’ve had this conversation. I’ve trained with GSP. He spent five times what I got paid on his training camp."
Topics: Georges St Pierre, UFC