Ronda Rousey’s return to the Octagon at UFC 207 will be a lucrative one for the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion. The reclusive fighter, who has said nary a word to the press leading up to her fight, will earn a disclosed purse of $3 million with no win bonus, according to documents from the Nevada Athletic Commission. Her opponent and current women’s 135 pound champ Amanda Nunes will make $100,000 to show and $100,000 to win.
Per NSAC, Ronda Rousey's disclosed fight purse tonight is $3 million. No win bonus. Amanda Nunes is $100k/$100k.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) December 31, 2016
Certain states like Nevada make purse information public, but those numbers often don’t tell the entire story. Various extras like signing bonuses, performance bonuses, and cuts of pay-per-view profits aren’t included, meaning the numbers revealed are only a portion of a fighter’s earned income. In this case, for example, both Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes are getting points on the pay-per-view, meaning they’ll earn a few dollars per pay-per-view sold. Tonight’s UFC 207 event is expected to sell anywhere between 500,000 to a million pay-per-views, potentially pushing Ronda Rousey’s pay from the UFC above $5 million when all is said and done.
The disclosed $3 million purse for Rousey also happens to match the disclosed purse Conor McGregor received for his last fights at UFC 202 and UFC 205. With all the recent debate over who was the biggest star for the UFC, did the company sidestep the debate by simply agreeing to pay both fighters the same? Whatever the case, it’s going to be a lucrative night for Ronda Rousey.