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Saturday, October 28, 2006
 
Mixed Martial Arts--- Pride USA Fighter Salaries
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

MMAWeekly has obtained the fighter salary information for Pride: The Real Deal, which took place on Saturday, October 21st at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The following figures are from the fighter salary information that Dream Stage Entertainment was required by law to submit to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Although MMA fighters are not unionized, the fighters' salaries are still public record in the United States, just as with every other major sport in the US.

While the question, "How much do Pride's fighters make when they fight in Japan?" still remains unanswered, the fighter salaries for the USA event provide a great deal of insight into this question.

Given that Pride's Japan-based shows regularly fill the 35,000-seat Saitama Super Arena, it's likely that the salaries for the USA event were smaller than the salaries for a show in Japan, but it's unlikely that the two sets of numbers would be drastically different from one another.

Though our listings still note which fighters won their fights and which fighters lost, there were no winners' bonuses on this card.

As with UFC salaries, we're listing "Main Event Fighters," "Main Card Fighters," and "Preliminary Fighters." All non-main-event fighter for this card are listed below as "Main Card Fighters" because there were no preliminary bouts on this card. None of the fights were taped before the show went on the air, so there were no "Preliminary Fighters."

Without further ado, here are the fighter salaries for Pride: The Real Deal.

Main Event Fighters
-Fedor Emelianenko: $100,000 (defeated Mark Coleman)
-Mark Coleman: $70,000 (lost to Fedor Emelianenko)

Main Card Fighters
-Josh Barnett: $60,000 (defeated Pawel Nastula)
-Dan Henderson: $50,000 (defeated Vitor Belfort)
-Kevin Randleman: $40,000 (lost to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua)
-Vitor Belfort: $30,000 (lost to Dan Henderson)
-Eric "Butterbean" Esch: $30,000 (defeated Sean O'Haire)
-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: $25,000 (defeated Kevin Randleman)
-Pawel Nastula: $20,000 (lost to Josh Barnett)
-Phil Baroni: $15,000 (defeated Yosuke Nishijima)
-Yosuke Nishijima: $15,000 (lost to Phil Baroni)
-Sean O'Haire: $15,000 (lost to Eric "Butterbean" Esch)
-Kazuhiro Nakamura: $10,000 (defeated Travis Galbraith)
-Robbie Lawler: $10,000 (defeated Joey Villasenor)
-Joey Villasenor: $3,000 (lost to Robbie Lawler)
-Travis Galbraith: $2,000 (lost to Kazuhiro Nakamura)
Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $495,000

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