How Much Alexandre Pantoja, Joshua Van and Every Fighter ‘Officially’ Earned

The salaries for UFC 331 have now been made public, Alexandre Pantoja securing the largest disclosed payment on the card, which featured his flyweight title rematch with Joshua Van.

The California State Athletic Commission made public the contracted salaries for the event held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday, showing that Pantoja’s purse was a flat amount of $650,000. Van, who kept his UFC flyweight title with a unanimous decision win, was awarded a disclosed salary of $500,000.

One should not necessarily take those figures to mean the total amounts earned by either fighter from UFC 331.

The figures produced by the athletic commission usually only list the purses that have been contracted and the win bonuses applicable to the fight, rather than showing every possible source of the fighter’s earnings. Post-fight bonuses, payments for promotional compliance by the UFC, and other possible payments are not included in the commission’s published figures.

Pantoja and Van Earn More Than Their Disclosed Salaries

Pantoja is the highest-paid fighter on the UFC 331 salary list with a salary of $650,000 even though he was unable to regain the flyweight championship.

Van was next with $500,000, but after their five-round match was awarded Fight of the Night both men received an additional $100,000. This means that Pantoja now has at least $750,000 and Van at least $600,000 in known payment from the event before any other possible payments are taken into account.

It is important to note this when the official figures are compared with the pre-fight purse estimates.

Prior to UFC 331, Van’s total potential earnings had been estimated at about $750,000 to $1.5 million, and Pantoja was expected to earn between $500,000 and $1 million. These figures were estimates of his overall income and not merely the salary that would be listed on an athletic commission disclosure.

The amount that Pantoja earned of $750,000 from his Fight of the Night bonus is already well within the estimated range. Van’s official earnings are $600,000 on the basis of the purse he have disclosed, though his total payment could be higher if there are any additional contractual or discretionary payments.

UFC 331 Salaries Reveal Several Huge Paydays

Pantoja and Van were by no means the only fighters receiving large amounts of money.

Patricio Pitbull and Marlon “Chito” Vera each received an amount of $400,000, comprising $200,000 for reaching the show stage and an additional $200,000 as prize for winning. Arman Tsarukyan earned a fixed sum of $350,000 after defeating Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event, and Tai Tuivasa also received $350,000.

Tsarukyan also won a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus, which brought his total known compensation from UFC 331 to at least $450,000.

Other salaries that were made public included that of Alonzo Menifield at $310,000, Edmen Shahbazyan at $250,000, Robelis Despaigne at $200,000 and Gable Steveson at $160,000.

Perhaps the biggest difference between salary and total earnings belonged to the huge underdog Sean Sharaf. His disclosed purse was just $60,000 following his stunning 12-second knockout of Steveson, but the victory earned him another $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus, lifting his known compensation to $160,000.

Dana White matched the Mobland bonus for Sharif, who revealed before the fight that he is over $600,000 in debt.