UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones earned $400,000 with no win bonus for his title-defending win over Rashad Evans at UFC 145 Saturday in Atlanta, according to the list of fighter purses from the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission reported by MMAjunkie.com.
Evans, who lost to Jones by unanimous decision in the main event, took home $300,000 as the two fighters’ paydays accounted for 56 per cent of the show’s total purse of $1,241,000.
Other big earners were Ben Rothwell, who was paid $169,000 (including $52,000 win bonus and $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus) for his stoppage of Brendan Schaub ($14,000) and Mac Danzig ($54,000/$27,000) for his win over Efrain Escudero ($10,000).
The highest-paid Canadian (not including the UFC awards) was Woodbridge, Ont.’s Mark Bocek, who made $46,000 (including a $23,000 win bonus) for his defeat of Duncan, B.C.’s John Alessio, who made $10,000 for his short-notice gig.
Co-main event winner Rory MacDonald of Kelowna, B.C., earned $36,000 (including $18,000 win bonus) for his knockout of Che Mills ($8,000). Montreal’s John Makdessi got $12,000 in a loss to Anthony Njokuani ($24,000/$12,000) and Mark Hominick received $17,000 in his loss to Eddie Yagin ($12,000/$6,000).
Hominick took home a bigger cheque however, earning an extra $65,000 for his fight with Yagin being named Fight of the Night. The other award winners were Rothwell (KO of the Night) and Browne, who had $65,000 for Submission of the Night added to his fight purse of $24,000 (including $12,000) in his arm-triangle of Chad Griggs, who made $27,000 in his first UFC fight after coming over from Strikeforce.
