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Topics: MMA, UFC, Fan Reactions
Ryan Smart
A former UFC fighter from the early days of the promotion has posted his payslips from UFC 9 and 10 - and they have surprised fans.
Gary Goodridge first competed for the promotion at UFC 8 in 1996, and participated in the Superfight tournament bracket.
He defeated Paul Herrera and Jerry Bohlander on his way to the final, where he lost to Don Frye via technical knockout inside three minutes.
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The Trinidad and Tobago-born fighter then took part in UFC 9, losing via technical knockout to Marc Schultz.
Back then, the UFC was much different to how we know it today. Fights took place based on time limits rather than rounds, while there were national pushbacks against the event.
The case even ended up in the Detroit courts up until 4:30pm on the day of the event, with the UFC able to host it but with modified rules.
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At UFC 10, Goodridge returned and defeated John Campetella to reach the semi-finals, before losing to debutant and eventual winner Mark Coleman.
After another defeat to Frye at an event later that year, Goodridge marked another comeback to the sport in a 43-second victory over Andre Roberts at UFC 19.
Now, the 58-year-old has posted payslips from his early days in the UFC - and revealed how much he had earned from UFC 9 and 10.
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He was paid a sum of £15,000 for participating at UFC 9, before receiving another £5,000 payment three days later for the same event.
For UFC 10, Goodridge shows off a payment of £5,000, while he receives another £10,000 for an event in February 1996.
And fans were surprised about the amount that Goodridge was earning from a sport that was just getting up off the ground in 1996.
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One wrote: "Not a terrible check for fighting back then when the UFC was just getting started."
A second said: "Dawg was making more in 1996 than at least 20 per cent of fighters make today."
A third agreed: "To think there are UFC fighters whose base pay is less than this today."
And a fourth added: "15k in '96 was a good amount of money btw."