Article on Lesnar's pay

I am not a big MMA guy (i'll watch it, but I'd much rather watch boxing). I don't try to spend my time disparaging it.

I do not like writers putting in MMA promoter claims without examining their claims. See the bold in the story below, which I find laughable.

Fighters that made at least 500,000 in 2010 (me guessing off the top of my head): HWs-Wlad, Vitali, Haye, Adamek, Fraudley. I'd go division by division but that would take too long. Martinez, PW, Cotto, Juan Ma, Gamboa, Mayweather, Pac, Mosley, Clottey, Margacheato, BHOP, Pascal, Bute, Ward, Froch, Abraham, Pavlik, Berto, Sturm, Saul Alvarez, Khan, Bradley, Maidana, Alexander, Juan Manuel Marquez, Katsidis. I just put up 32 names and I'd be willing to bet at least 25 of them did earn 500,000 in 2010.



ESPN the Mag story tabs Lesnar as highest paid fighter at $5.3 million in 2010
By Steve Cofield


In the major sports, stories about athletes' salaries generally draw derision and jealous reactions. In the case of mixed martial arts, fans probably have a more supportive stance for the fighters. The combatants aren't making a killing relative to athletes from the NFL, NBA and MLB yet they're putting their safety on the line.

According to ESPN the Magazine, the highest paid MMA fighter in 2010 was Lesnar at ONLY $5.3 million. Boxer Manny Pacquiao led the way in the other major combat sport at $32 million.

On the surface, that makes MMA look pathetic. Should MMA stars like Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva be making $15 million-plus a year? Maybe, but the argument from MMA promoters is that the gap between boxing's haves and have-nots is massive while MMA can boast of dozens of fighters making in excess of $500,000 per year.The StarPhoenix's Dave Deibert points out that Lesnar is actually a bigger draw than 99.9 percent of the fighters in the modern history of combat sports:

Lesnar has recently become the biggest pay-per-view draw in the world. In 2010, he joined Mike Tyson as the only athletes to twice draw more than one million buys on pay-per-view in a single year — Tyson did it three times in 1996.

Lesnar made 5 Mil and is already an afterthought. MMA fighters will come & go with the exception of a select few. None will last or be champs for very long.

Vitali got paid 15 mill bucks for the joke Solis fight. Berto got paid 1.4 million against Ortiz.

Rule thumb is, you're on HBO you're making atleast 500k easy.

a great long-term article to do would be to research fighter's purses for boxing and determine what guys make good money.