If you’ve ever wanted to see exactly how much a UFC fighter gets paid by the company then the contract details made freely available as part of a lawsuit involving Eddie Alvarez and Bellator make for very interesting reading indeed.
Here’s a breakdown of exactly what the UFC have offered the former Bellator lightweight champion.
- Contact is for eight-fights in the UFC.
- $250,000 signing bonus.
- $70,000 to fight, $70,000 win bonus for first fight.
- Every win results in a $5,000 increase in salary, capped at $210,000.
- “Intent” to deliver Alvarez an immediate title shot against Ben Henderson in March.
- “Intent” to give Alvarez a share of the PPV income. This includes $1 for every buy between 200-400,000 PPV sales, $2 for every but between 400-600,000 PPV sales and $2.50 for sales over 600,000.
- Guaranteed a fight on FOX.
- Three appearances as a “commentator” (analyst) on UFC media shows.
Essentially Bellator offered the same deal with the following notable differences:
- $25,000 for appearing in a behind-the-scenes Bellator show for Spike TV.
- $100,000 for appearing as a coach in the second season of Bellator’s upcoming reality show on Spike TV.
- Guest role on Bellator’s ‘Road To The Championship’ show on Spike TV.
As we reported yesterday Alvarez’s legal team argue that the value of the two deals is not equal and clearly this would appear to be due to the fact that Bellator are not currently on pay-per-view so can’t provide that potentially very lucrative financial incentive.
However, it’s believed that Bellator will argue that the language of the UFC’s contract indicates only an “intent” to offer both PPV revenue and an immediate title shot rather than actually guaranteeing it.
I must admit I found the immediate shot at the title a bit of a surprising offer from the UFC, especially considering that Alvarez isn’t even the current Bellator champion after having lost hs belt to Michael Chandler at the end of 2011.
With Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez set to move over to the UFC and Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis vying for potential No.1 contender status at ‘UFC On FOX 6’ later this month I’d have thought Alvarez would have had to take at least one fight first before getting a title tilt.
We’ll have to wait and see where this all ends up, but either way it looks like Alvarez isn’t going to be short of cash anytime soon!
