Fighters from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 257 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $161,500.
The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.
UFC Fight Night 257 took place at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. The entire card streamed on ESPN+.
The full UFC Fight Night 257 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Johnny Walker: $11,000 vs. Zhang Mingyang: $4,500
Brian Ortega: $11,000 vs. Aljamain Sterling $16,000
Sergei Pavlovich: $11,000 vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta: $6,000
Su Mudaerji: $6,000 vs. Kevin Borjas: $4,500
Nueraji Taiyilake: $4,000 vs. Kiefer Crosbie: $4,000
Hayisaer Maheshate: $6,000 vs. Gauge Young: $4,000
Lone’er Kavanagh: $4,000 vs. Charles Johnson: $11,000
Rong Zhu: $6,000 vs. Austin Hubbard: $11,000
Michel Pereira: $11,000 vs. Kyle Daukaus: $6,000
Yi Zha: $4,000 vs. Westin Wilson: $4,500
Xiao Long: $4,000 vs. SuYoung You: $4,000
Uran Satybaldiev: $4,000 vs. Diyar Nurgozhay: $4,000
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2571 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2025 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
- “UFC Fight Night 257: Walker vs. Mingyang” – $161,500
- “UFC 319: Du Plessis vs. Chimaev” – $301,500
- “UFC on ESPN 72: Dolidze vs. Hernandez” – $205,000
- “UFC on ESPN 71: Taira vs. Park” – $150,000
- “UFC on ABC 9: Whittaker vs. de Ridder” – $191,000
- “UFC 318: Holloway vs. Poirier 3” – $269,500
- “UFC on ESPN 70: Lewis vs. Teixeira” – $204,500
- “UFC 317: Topuria vs. Oliveira” – $298,500
- “UFC on ABC 8: Hill vs. Rountree Jr.” – $155,000
- “UFC on ESPN 69: Usman vs. Buckley” – $260,500
- “UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs. O’Malley 2” – $320,500
- “UFC on ESPN 68: Blanchfield vs. Barber” – $121,500
- “UFC on ESPN 67: Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo” – $203,000
- “UFC on ESPN 66: Machado Garry vs. Prates” – $201,500
- “UFC 314: Volkanovski vs. Lopes” – $300,500
- “UFC on ESPN 65: Emmett vs. Murphy” – $161,000
- “UFC on ESPN 64: Moreno vs. Erceg” – $168,500
- “UFC Fight Night 255: Edwards vs. Brady” – $204,000
- “UFC Fight Night 254: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2” – $173,000
- “UFC 313: Pereira vs. Ankalaev” – $213,500
- “UFC Fight Night 253: Kape vs. Almabayev” – $134,500
- “UFC Fight Night 252: Cejudo vs. Song” – $185,000
- “UFC Fight Night 251: Cannonier vs. Rodrigues” – $168,000
- “UFC 312: Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2” – $254,500
- “UFC Fight Night 250: Adesanya vs. Imavov” – $137,500
- “UFC 311: Makhachev vs. Moicano” – $306,000
- “UFC Fight Night 249: Dern vs. Ribas 2” – $173,500
Year-to-date total: $5,623,000
2024 total: $8,280,500
2023 total: $8,188,000
2022 total: $8,351,500
2021 total: $6,167,500
Program-to-date total: $36,6190,500
