TUF 8 champs Escudero and Bader earn $16,000 apiece
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released salary figures for Saturday’s live finale for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter at the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
TUF 8 lightweight tournament winner Efrain Escudero and light heavyweight winner Ryan Bader both received $16,000 for their winning effort with $8,000 coming in the form of a guaranteed purse and an additional $8,000 being paid out as a win bonus.
In a new development, all TUF 8 cast members that won during Saturday’s finale ended up earning the same amount of the show’s lightweight and light heavyweight champion with all winners walking away with $16,000.
The highest earner on the show was middleweight Wilson Gouveia, who despite weighing four pounds over the mandated middleweight limit of 185 pounds still took home $36,800 for his first round TKO over veteran fighter Jason MacDonald. Gouveia’s purse would have been even higher had he not forfeited 20 percent of his pay as a penalty for failing to make weight.
Right behind Gouveia on the salary list is MacDonald who walked with a total purse of $35,200, including the 20 percent that Gouveia forfeited.
Welterweight prospect Anthony Johnson received a $9,000 guarantee but added $34,000 in bonuses with $9,000 being awarded as a win bonus and $25,000 coming via a “Knockout of the Night” award.
Complete salary figures for all 20 fighters are listed below. However, as a disclaimer, the figures do not include undisclosed locker room bonus, compensation paid through sponsorships, and other compensation that is not a matter of public record:
- Wilson Gouveia: $36,8000 (including an $18,400 win bonus and a 20% penalty)
- Jason MacDonald: $35,2000 (including a $17,600 win bonus and 20% of Gouveia’s purse)
- Anthony Johnson: $18,000 (including a $9,000 win bonus; figure does not include $25,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus)
- Efrain Escudero: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus)
- Ryan Bader: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus)
- Junie Browning: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus; does not include a $25,000 “Fight of the Night bonus)
- Krzysztof Soszynski: $16,000 (including an $8,000 win bonus; does not include a $25,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus)
- Eliot Marshall: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus)
- Shane Nelson: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus)
- Tom Lawlor: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus)
- Rolando Delgado: $16,000 (including a $8,000 win bonus)
- David Kaplan: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won; does not include $25,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
- Vinicius Magalhaes: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- Phillipe Nover: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- Kyle Kingsbury: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- Shane Primm: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- George Roop: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- Jules Bruchez: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- John Polakowski: $8,000 (would have earned a $8,000 bonus had he won)
- Kevin Burns: $7,000 (would have earned a $7,000 bonus had he won)
