As we reported earlier today, The Ultimate Finale 18 headliner Nate Diaz picked up only $30K in base pay for his performance Saturday night. That breaks down $15K to show and $15K to win in an impressive performance where he dominated fellow top-10 Lightweight Gray Maynard That opponent made $45K just for showing up to the same fight.
For a fighter with 19 fights inside the Octagon (excluding TUF 5 bouts) Diaz’s base pay is startlingly low. Following the release of the reported salaries on Monday, Cage Potato questioned what had happened with Diaz’s compensation. Mike Kogan, Nate’s manager, said this in response:
Cause I suck as a manager lol
Thank you
Mike
Diaz had worked his way up the payroll ranks in his time in the UFC. In his title fight against Ben Henderson at UFC on Fox 5, he was paid $50K to show and would have gotten another $50K had he upset the champ. It wasn’t until his next fight, where he lost by KO to Josh Thomson, that he took the big dip in salary down to $15K/$15K.
Taken at face value, the apparent drastic drop in Nate’s value looks bad for both Diaz, the UFC, and his manager. However, Kogan’s nonchalance indicates there’s more to this story.