UFC Seattle was a dynamite card full of finishes. With the Fight Night behind us, we can determine which athletes took home the most promotional guidelines compliance pay.
While official fighter salaries aren’t yet disclosed, we can determine the UFC’s promotional guidelines compliance pay based on the number of fights UFC Seattle fighters have had.
The promotional guidelines refer to fight-week obligations such as attending media events, wearing the correct attire provided, and performing other promotional duties like ceremonial weigh-ins. The minimum band for compliance pay is $4,000 for 1-3 fights, and the maximum is $42,000 for being a champion.
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Andre Fili was the top compliance pay earner at UFC Seattle despite submission loss
| Number of fights | Payment |
| 1-3 | $4,000 |
| 4-5 | $4,500 |
| 6-10 | $6,000 |
| 11-15 | $11,000 |
| 16-20 | $16,000 |
| 21+ | $21,000 |
| Title challenger | $32,000 |
| Champion | $42,000 |
Eight fighters from UFC Seattle earned five-figure compliance paydays. Prelim loser Andre Fili was the top earner with 24 UFC fights, raking in the limit for non-title fight compliance pay at $21,000. The next best was Rob Font, with 19 fights at $16,000.
The marquee fighters Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong each earned $11,000 with 15 and 14 fights, respectively. Nine fighters earned the minimum compliance pay with 1-3 fights, and four UFC debutants were on the card.
| Fighter | UFC fights | Compliance Pay |
| Andre Fili | 24 | $21,000 |
| Rob Font | 19 | $16,000 |
| Ion Cutelaba | 18 | $16,000 |
| Brendan Allen | 16 | $16,000 |
| Alonzo Menifield | 15 | $11,000 (+$50,000 bonus) |
| Henry Cejudo | 15 | $11,000 |
| Song Yadong | 14 | $11,000 |
| Ricky Simon | 14 | $11,000 (+$50,000 bonus) |
| Anthony Hernandez | 10 | $6,000 |
| Modestas Bukauskas | 9 | $6,000 |
| Javid Basharat | 6 | $6,000 |
| Melquizael Costa | 5 | $4,500 |
| Melsik Baghdasaryan | 5 | $4,500 |
| Jean Silva | 4 | $4,500 (+$50,000 bonus) |
| Nursulton Ruziboev | 4 | $4,500 |
| Jan Matsumoto | 3 | $4,000 |
| Ibo Aslan | 3 | $4,000 |
| Mansur Abdul-Malik | 2 | $4,000 |
| Nikolay Veretennikov | 2 | $4,000 |
| Raffael Cerqueira | 2 | $4,000 |
| Eric McConico | 1 (debut) | $4,000 |
| Austin Vanderford | 1 (debut) | $4,000 |
| Nick Klein | 1 (debut) | $4,000 |
| Julius Walker | 1 (debut) | $4,000 (+$50,000 bonus) |
UFC Seattle bonus winners
Four fighters, including one debutant, earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at UFC Seattle.
- (Debut) Julius Walker and Alonzo Menifield fought to a decision and earned a $50,000 bonus for their fight of the night.
- Jean Silva knocked out Melsik Baghdasaryan to earn a $50,000 performance bonus.
- Ricky Simon knocked out Javid Basharat to earn a $50,000 performance bonus.
Fans aren’t too pleased with Menifield and Walker taking the Fight of the Night award. The result was a sloppy split decision win for Menifield against Walker, who was stepping in on a week’s notice.
The fight also broke the card’s seven-fight finish streak and was a precursor to Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto on the main card, which was all-action from start to finish.
“[Dane White] I’m going to need a three-page essay from Sean Shelby as to why Font/Matsumoto didn’t get FOTN,” One user remarked.
“Oh wait,” Another wrote. “It was legit LMAO… These two actually got the bonus over the other fights? Ain’t no f—— way.”
“The sloppiest fight on the card, the one that broke the night’s finishing streak over Font vs. Matsumoto… Really?” Another said.
Another confused user remarked, “This fight was absolute dogs—?”
The last UFC PPV, UFC 312, also had compliance pay, and three UFC debutants earned performance bonuses.