The disclosed UFC 311 purses have been released by the California State Athletic Commission and there are some extremely surprising payouts from the first UFC PPV of 2025.
The UFC kicked off their 2025 PPV schedule this past Saturday with UFC 311 from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood California, as Islam Makhachev successfully defended his lightweight title in the main event against Renato Moicano.
That fight was put together on just a few hours notice when Arman Tsarukyan withdrew from his scheduled fight against Makhachev due to a back injury.
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Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
The California State Athletic Commission has released twelve official base purses for UFC 311. These purses do not include sponsorships, bonuses beyond the standard show/win deals, or any pay-per-view deals a fighter may have with the promotion.
Despite that, there is widespread surprise at some of the disclosed base purses as several fighters on the undercard earned more money than lightweight champion, Makhachev.
‘Money’ Moicano lived up to his nickname, earning a base pay of $250,000, with the 33-year-old champion only pocketing $200,000 from his base purse.
In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili retained his bantamweight title with a huge win over the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov. ‘The Machine’ took home the biggest base pay of the night with a flat $500,000, also earning a $50,000 performance bonus.
Nurmagomedov earned $100,000 whilst also cashing an extra $50,000 for Fight of the Night.
Former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka took home $250,000 for his third-round KO of fellow former champion, Jamahal Hill, who earned $200,000.
One of the most surprising aspects of this, is that Grant Dawson, who competed on the prelims against Diego Ferreira, earned $212,000, which was $12,000 more than Makhachev.
And similarly, both Kevin Holland and Reinier de Ridder earned more than the champion, taking home $250,000 and $210,000 respectively. Holland was submitted in the first round by the former ONE Championship double champion.
Despite the reported base purses, Makhachev will likely have banked a handsome figure all-in for his record breaking title defense when sponsorships and PPV deals are added.
Although the 33-year-old was faced with an extremely unfortunate late change of opponent, one of which has a different style to the original Tsarukyan, Makhachev was completely unfazed.
With his win, the Russian champion has changed the mind of Dana White, who has finally recognized Makhachev as the pound-for-pound number one fighter on the planet after years of campaigning for Jon Jones.
