UFC 278 salaries: Jose Aldo guaranteed more in loss than Leon Edwards for title win

UFC 278 took place in Salt Lake City, UT back on August 20th. As it turns out, Utah is one of the few states remaining that publicly releases fighter pay info from combat sports events (even if it sounds like MMA Fighting’s Steven Marrocco had to go through a struggle to get it). That means fight fans get an increasingly rare look at the current UFC salary numbers for some of the promotion’s most and least notable talents.

Unsurprisingly, Kamaru Usman walked away as the night’s biggest earner with his $500,000 guaranteed champion’s purse. Coming in second, however, wasn’t Leon Edwards (who made $350,000 guaranteed for his title winning performance). Rather it was former featherweight king Jose Aldo, who pocketed a cool $400,000 in a loss to Merab Dvalishvili. Marcin Tybura, Luke Rockhold, and Merab Dvalishvili all clocked in around $200k for their efforts. All told, the UFC paid out $2,740,000 in officially reported salaries and bonuses.

Here’s a look at the complete UFC 278 show/win purse numbers* as provided by the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission and reported by MMA Fighting.

Leon Edwards – $350,000 (no win bonus) + $50k POTN bonus
Kamaru Usman – $500,000

Paulo Costa – $130,000 ($65,000/$65,000 show/win) + $50k FOTN bonus
Luke Rockhold – $200,000 + $50k FOTN bonus

Merab Dvalishvili – $198,000 ($99,000/$99,000 show/win)
Jose Aldo – $400,000

Lucie Pudilova – $46,000 ($23,000/$23,000 show/win)
Wu Yanan – $20,000

Tyson Pedro – $86,000 ($43,000/$43,000 show/win)
Harry Hunsucker – $12,000

Marcin Tybura – $240,000 ($120,000/$120,000 show/win)
Alexandr Romanov – $36,000

Jared Gordon – $94,000 ($47,000/$47,000 show/win)
Leonardo Santos – $44,000

Sean Woodson – $24,000
Luis Saldana – $14,000

Ange Loosa – $24,000 ($12,000/$12,000 show/win)
A.J. Fletcher – $10,000

Amir Albazi – $32,000 ($16,000/$16,000 show/win)
Francisco Figueiredo – $14,000

Aoriqileng – $24,000 ($12,000/$12,000 show/win)
Jay Perrin – $12,000

Victor Altamirano – $20,000 ($10,000/$10,000 show/win) + $50k POTN bonus
Daniel Lacerda – $10,000

*As always these number represent only the guaranteed purse money reported by the UFC to the athletic commission. These numbers do not include any side notes, locker room bonuses, PPV percentages, taxes, fees, fines, or any other potential event revenue or expenses.