Six Highest Paid UFC Debutants

Hector Lombard ($300000)

Widely viewed as one of the world’s top middleweight fighters before his UFC signing, Lombard was in for a major payday after the UFC showed interest. The Cuban began his MMA career in his adopted country of Australia before he became a mainstay for Bellator. He eventually became that organisation’s Middleweight champion and acquired a stellar 31-2-1 record before the UFC came knocking on his door. He just came up short in his UFC debut against Tim Boetsch at UFC 149, which he lost by split decision. While it may not have been the UFC debut Lombard had been hoping for, the $300,000 he earned for the fight would likely have eased the pain of a rare loss.