By Bryan Levick 
UFC 109 fighter salaries were released, and not surprisingly, Randy Couture was the night’s top earner.
Couture took home a flat salary of $250k, that of course doesn’t include any cut of the pay-per-view buys or sponsorship dollars he will add to his wallet.
His fallen foe, Mark Coleman made $60k for his six minutes of work. That may be the last paycheck Coleman ever draws from the UFC again, unless he works for the company in another capacity.
Chael Sonnen banked a total of $124k for his three round war with Nate Marquardt. Sonnen received $32k to show, $32k to win and a nice $60k bonus for partaking in the Fight of the Night.
Marquardt received a total of $105k for his troubles, $45k to show and another $60k in bonus money.
Paulo Thiago was the recipient of his second bonus in four tries inside the octagon. This time Thiago added a $60k Submission of the Night check to the Knockout of the Night award he took home at UFC 95. His total take was $90k.
When Mike Swick finally woke up he had a $43k check waiting for him as a consolation prize.
Demian Maia coupled a $31k win bonus with a check for $31k to show, totaling $62k.
Dan Miller took home a paltry $15k, that’s $1k per minute. While that may seem like a lot, remember the months of training he put in preparing for this bout.
Long Island native, and former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra was the night’s second highest earner. Serra took a total of $210k back to NY, that’s a really big bowl of pasta! “The Terror” made $75k to show, $75k to win and received the Knockout of the Night bonus.
Frank Trigg can use the $30k he made to find a good barber, and cut that hair!! That was probably the last we have seen of Trigg inside the octagon.
The preliminary card fighters salaries are listed below:
Mac Danzig- $20k to show, $20k to win totaling $40k.
Justin Buccholz- $8k.
Melvin Guillard- $14k to show, $14k to win totaling $28k.
Ronnys Torres- $4k.
Rob Emerson- $12k to show, $12k to win totaling $24k.
Phillipe Nover- $10k.
Phil Davis- $5k to show, $5k to win totaling $10k.
Brian Stann- $17k.
Chris Tuchscherer- $10k to show, $10k to win totaling $20k.
Tim Hague- $7k.
Joey Beltran- $6k to show, $6k to win totaling $12k.
Rolles Gracie- $15k. Wow, because of his last name he made more money than Nover, Davis, Hague, and a few others who have been with the company a lot longer. I bet they are wishing they could have that 15 grand back after watching his performance.
As I noted with Couture, this doesn’t include any locker room bonuses, pay-per-view bonuses or sponsorship money that these fighters earn.
