Cris Cyborg takes home double the Invicta FC 11 payroll with $90,000 purse

*Note: Due to a failure of some basic maths, this article originally stated that Cris Cyborg had earned triple the amount of the rest of the Invicta payroll. This is not the case and the article has been updated to reflect this fact.

In the fallout of Invicta FC 11, there were a couple of notable storylines, Alexa Grasso’s impressive performance agaisnt Mizuki Inoue, Irene Aldana’s submission of Colleen Schneider, and of course, Cris Cyborg’s 46 second KO of Charmaine Tweet, the first defense of Cyborg’s 145 lb title and her first MMA bout in a year and a half. But there’s another interesting note in the closeout of Cyborg’s first title defense, her purse. MMAFighting reports that Cyborg brought home $90,000 for her fight against Charmaine Tweet, double the amount of the rest of the card combined.

Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Cristiane Justino ($45,000 + $45,000 = $90,000) def. Charmaine Tweet ($6,000)
Alexa Grasso ($2,500 + $2,500 = $5,000) def. Mizuki Inoue ($2,000)
DeAnna Bennett ($3,000 + $3,000 = $6,000) def. Norma Rueda Center ($1,500)
Irene Aldana: ($2,000 + $1,400 = $3,400) def. Colleen Schneider ($3,000)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Jamie Moyle ($1,500 + $1,500 = $3,000) def. J.J. Aldrich ($1,250)
Amy Cadwell Montenegro ($1,500 + $1,500 = $3,000) def. Brianna Van Buren ($1,500)
Christine Stanley ($1,500 + $1,500 = $3,000) def. Laura Salazar ($1,500)
Aspen Ladd ($1,500 + $1,500 = $3,000) def. Ana Carolina Vidal ($1,500)

In the lead up to Invicta FC 11 ESPN revealed that Cyborg was in talks for a joint deal between Zuffa and Invicta, one that might set up a future bout with Rousey, sometime down the road, while still allowing her to compete regularly for the all women MMA promotion. It appears that deal must have gone through, as Cris Cyborg told MMAJunkie that the UFC “helped” put together her bout with Tweet.

Considering the massive disparity in pay between Cyborg and the rest of the Invicta FC roster, it’s not hard to connect the dots and assume that a major portion of that “help” came in the form of the UFC paying a significant portion of her fight purse.