UFC Vegas 96 Fighter Pay & Salaries: Jared Cannonier Projected To Be Top Earner

The UFC heads back to Las Vegas for a fight night event at the UFC Apex with two of the best middleweight contenders colliding in the main event. Cannonier is now coming off of his first loss since his title loss to Israel Adesanya in 2022. As for Borralho, he comes into the biggest fight of his career and his first-ever main event on the heels of wins in all six of his fights in the UFC. A win for either of these two middleweights put them right into the thick of things for a potential title fight in the wide-open middleweight division.

In the co-main event, we have a fight between two strawweights colliding as a mainstay in the division Angela Hill and the surging “Baby Shark” Tabitha Ricci go to battle. Hill has won each of her last two fights with one of her most dominant wins coming in her last fight when she submitted Luana Pinheiro. As for Ricci, she got back on track after suffering her first defeat in her strawweight career when she defeated Tecia Pennington via split decision.

With that said, these fighters can expect some hefty paydays this weekend so let’s check out what the expected fighter pay, salaries, and payouts will be.

UFC Vegas 96 Fighter Pay, Salaries, and Payouts

Disclaimer: These numbers are just an estimate of what each fighter on this fight card could potentially be getting paid, actual payouts will vary.

Using previously disclosed figures, we’ve crunched the numbers to foresee the potential payouts for the fighters on this weekend’s upcoming UFC Vegas 96 event in Las Vegas, NV

In total, the UFC is projected to pay out over $1,042,000 in salaries, incentives, and bonuses at UFC Vegas 96.

Headlining the main event are two top-ranked middleweight fighters, Jared Cannonier and Caio Borralho. It is expected that Cannonier will be this week’s highest earner with $200,000.

Borralho ($150,000), Neil Magny ($120,000), Angela Hill ($100,000), and Gerald Meerschaert ($100,000) round out the top five highest-paid fighters at UFC Vegas 96 this weekend.

Top-5 Highest Paid Fighters at UFC Vegas 96:

• Jared Cannonier – $200,000
• Caio Borralho- $150,000
• Neil Magny – $120,000
• Angela Hill – $100,000
• Gerald Meerschaert- $100,000

projected UFC Vegas 96 payouts for each fighter below:

Fighter Base Pay Incentive Pay Guaranteed Salary

Jared Cannonier $200,000 $16,000 $216,000

Caio Borralho $150,000 $6,000 $156,000

Angela Hill $100,000 $21,000 $121,000

Tabatha Ricci $48,000 $6,000 $54,000

Ryan Loder $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Robert Valentin $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Kaan Ofli $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Mairon Santos $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Michael Morales $48,000 $6,000 $54,000

Neil Magny $120,000 $21,000 $141,000

Edmen Shahbazyan $48,000 $6,000 $54,000

Gerald Meerschaert $100,000 $16,000 $116,000

Dennis Buzukja $12,000 $4,500 $16,500

Francis Marshall $12,000 $4,500 $16,500

Jose Medina $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Zach Reese $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Viacheslav Borshchev $24,000 $6,000 $30,000

James Llontop $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Josiane Nunes $24,000 $4,500 $28,500

Jacqueline Cavalcanti $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Zygimantas Ramaska $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Nathan Fletcher $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Cong Wang $12,000 $4,000 $16,000

Victoria Leonardo $24,000 $4,500 $28,500

UFC Vegas 96 Promotional Guidelines Compliance Pay

The UFC will pay out $166,000 worth of incentive pay to their fighters this weekend at UFCVegas 96.

The incentive pay is generated by the UFC’s sportswear sponsor Venum’s deal which is paid out to the fighters via tiers based on their tenure with the company. This tenure includes Zuffa-era WEC fights, from January 2007 on, as well as Zuffa-era Strikeforce fights from April 2011 on.

Fighters with 1-3 professional bouts under the UFC/Zuffa banner will receive $4,000, 4-5 fights pay out $4,500, 6-10 bouts pay out $6,000, 11-15 pay out $11,000, 16-20 pay out $16,000 and 21 fights or more pays out $21,000. Meanwhile, title challengers are paid $32,000 and champions are paid $42,000.