Top 20 Highest-Paid UFC Fighters Of All Time: Conor McGregor Takes Top Spot With $39.3 Million UFC Career Earnings

As one of the fastest-growing sports worldwide, MMA has more eyeballs on it than ever. Parallel to the UFC’s rise and MMA in general, as are fighter earnings and the money generated for the biggest and best fights. But who exactly is are the highest-paid UFC fighters of all time?

Well, we have compiled a list of the Top 20 highest-paid UFC fighters of all time, as well as detailing the perennial Top 5 fighters more extensively. So without further ado, here are the Top 20 highest-paid UFC fighters of all time based off their total estimated career earnings, not including pay-per-view earnings or other endorsements.

Absolutely no surprise here to learn that Conor McGregor is comprehensively the highest-paid UFC fighter of all time. The history-making Irishman has reportedly earned $39.3 million during his UFC career purely through a fighting salary.

This doesn’t take into account any bonuses, PPV money or endorsements – purely just McGregor’s base pay for every UFC fight to date. Not only is ‘Notorious’ the single biggest name in the MMA scene, but he is also the highest-paid UFC athlete to ever grace the cage too.

The two-division UFC champion has had several seven, eight and even nine-figure purses in his UFC career all in. He is one of the most sought-after names in all of fight sports and continues to fly the flag for the UFC in terms of fighter pay and fandom.

In at number two is a former Conor McGregor opponent – the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Dagestani mauler never lost a fight in his entire MMA career, making him one of the best fighters to ever grace the octagon. Period.

Not only is the former long-reigning UFC lightweight king an elite fighter, but he is also an extremely wealthy man too. Second only to McGregor, Nurmagomedov reportedly earned $22.9m in pure UFC salary and pay before his retirement a few years ago.

Some of his biggest career purses include $2,040,000 in his victory over McGregor, as well as a combined $12,180,000 for his final two fights against Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje respectively. Again, this doesn’t include any further endorsements, PPV sales or additional bonuses.

3. Alistair Overeem – $15,400,500

The third highest-paid UFC fighter of all time is a man who never received anything less than six-figures for each of his 20 UFC fights – Alistair Overeem.

Overeem made his UFC debut back in 2011 against Brock Lesnar, winning the fight via knockout in the very first round. After that, Overeem earned a minimum of $100,000 for each and every fight that followed in Dana White’s organisation. On average, he made $495,724.9 from the UFC per fight.

Overall, ‘The Reem’ earned $15,400,500 in official pay-outs and purses, not included added bonuses, endorsements or pay-per-view money. His three biggest pay-days were against Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes and Sergei Pavlovich respectively. Overeem earned $860,000+ in total for these three fights.

4. Anderson Silva – $13,500,000

Despite not having one single pay-day in the UFC worth seven-figures, Anderson Silva makes it into the Top 5 highest-paid UFC fighters of all time at number four. The former dominant middleweight champion reportedly pocketed $13.5m in official fight purses during his illustrious UFC career.

This figure of course doesn’t take into consideration any additional bonuses, PPV earnings or sponsorship earnings. The Brazilian MMA phenom had 25 fights in the UFC, with a staggering 22 of them earning him a minimum of $200,000.

‘Spider’ earned over $200k for 22 consecutive UFC fights after his first three in the organisation, which included some extremely lucrative ones for his 13 UFC Middleweight Title fights. The UFC Hall of Famer accumulated an average of $620,025 in 25 bouts.

5. Andrei Arlovski – $11,200,000

Rounding off the Top 5 highest-paid fighters of all time is the man who holds the record for the most wins in UFC heavyweight history – Andrei Arlovski.

Arlovski may never have won a UFC Title or even challenged for one, but he was in his fair share of huge fights over the years. ‘The Pitbull’ has had over 40 fights in the UFC, gaining most of his fortune under Dana White’s promotional banner with an average of $232,500+ for each of his 42 bouts.

All in all, Arlovski earned, and continues to earn, $11.2 million inside the UFC octagon in purses. However, his sole biggest career purse came outside of the UFC in his infamous fight with Fedor Emelianenko back in 2009. Arlovski reportedly pocketed $1.5m for that fight alone during the period of a couple of years between his two UFC tenures.

Top 20 Highest-Paid UFC Athletes