UFC 316 compliance salaries: Merab tops bill as newcomer takes home $50,000 bonus

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With UFC 316 behind us, we can take a look at the little-known fighter compliance salaries.

UFC often treats fighter salaries as a 'trade secret,' meaning plenty of athletic commissions don't disclose how much the champions, challengers, or debuting fighters make on Fight Night.

What we can deduce, however, is the promotional guidelines compliance pay for every fighter on the card. This is the money fighters earn for attending media events and following general promotional guidelines throughout the week. They're paid in a tiered system according to the number of fights they've had, or their status as champion or challenger.

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UFC 316 pays out $320,500 in promotional guidelines salaries

Number of Fights	Payout
1-3	$4,000
4-5	$4,500
6-10	$6,000
11-15	$11,000
16-20	$16,000
21+	$21,000
Challenger	$32,000
Champion	$42,000

UFC paid out a total of $320,500 in promotional guidelines payouts to its athletes at UFC 316. The number increased with the double title fight headliner, which saw higher payouts for both champions and challengers.

Notably, Kayla Harrison earned $32,000 despite having three fights in the UFC. As for non-champions, Kevin Holland and Vicente Luque topped the bill with $21,000 each. Merab Dvalishvili and Julianna Pena each earned $42,000 as champions.

With his performance bonus at UFC 316, Merab Dvalishvili earned a minimum of $92,000 for submitting Sean O'Malley.

Fighter	Amount of UFC fights	Compliance Pay
Merab Dvalishvili	15	$42,000 (champion)
Julianna Pena	12	$42,000 (champion)
Sean O'Malley	14	$32,000 (challenger)
Kayla Harrison	3	$32,000 (challenger)
Kevin Holland	26	$21,000
Vicente Luque	23	$21,000
Serghei Spivac	14	$11,000
Ariane Lipski	14	$11,000
Mario Bautista	12	$11,000
Khaos Williams	10	$6,000
Bruno Silva	9	$6,000
Joshua Van	8	$6,000
Waldo Cortes-Acosta	8	$6,000
Joe Pyfer	6	$6,000
Azamat Murzakanov	5	$4,500
Brendson Ribeiro	5	$4,500
Cong Wang	4	$4,500
Jeka Saragih	4	$4,500
Yanal Ashmouz	4	$4,500
MarQuel Mederos	3	$4,000
Quillan Salkilld	2	$4,000
Patchy Mix	1	$4,000
Andreas Gustafsson	1	$4,000
Joo Sang Yoo	1	$4,000
Mark Choinski	1	$4,000

UFC 316 marks one of the highest payouts of the year, topping recent events.

• UFC London: $205,500
• UFC Mexico City: $167,000
• UFC 314: $295,500
• UFC Kansas City: $205,500

UFC debutant takes home one of four $50,000 bonuses at UFC 316

• Debuting fighter Joo Sang Yoo earned a $50,000 performance bonus for his prelim finish over Jeka Saragih
• Kevin Holland took home $50,000 for submitting Vicente Luque on the main card
• Kayla Harrison earned a $50,000 performance bonus for submitting Julianna Pena
• Merab Dvalishvili earned a $50,000 performance bonus for submitting Sean O'Malley

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