The UFC’s return to Baku, Azerbaijan, didn’t just produce highlight-reel finishes. It also put the world’s biggest MMA promotion’s financial strength on full display. For many years, UFC fighters got $50,000 in Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses, with even bigger bonuses reserved for milestone events such as UFC 300.

That changed ahead of UFC 324, when Dana White permanently increased those bonuses to $100,000 and added a new $25,000 finish bonus for every fighter who gets a stoppage but misses out on the main post-fight awards. And now, UFC Baku turned out to be one of the clearest examples yet of what that new system looks like in action.

By the end of the night, the promotion had handed out $525,000 in discretionary bonuses alone. That’s an eye-catching number, especially considering that the total disclosed payroll for PFL San Diego during the same weekend was around $579,000.

That is the point of the comparison. One UFC card paid out enough in bonuses to rival what another promotion paid across its whole roster, which says more about bonus-heavy spending than about base salaries alone.

Four fighters walked away from UFC Baku with $100,000 Performance of the Night bonuses. Rafael Fiziev, the home favorite, earned one after stopping Manuel Torres 15 seconds into the second round in front of the Baku audience. Asu Almabayev picked up another by becoming only the fourth fighter in UFC history to defeat Charles Johnson with the very rare Suloev Stretch submission.

Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev joined the list after defeating Julius Walker in just eight seconds, while unbeaten prospect Daniil Donchenko rounded off the winners with a vicious head-kick finish over Theodor Berggren.

The Dana White-led promotion also awarded five $25,000 finish bonuses. Matheus Camilo, Abus Magomedov, Nursulton Ruziboev, Kaan Ofli, and Tahir Abdullayev all won an additional bonus after scoring stoppage wins in Azerbaijan.

A $25,000 UFC finish bonus alone topped what several PFL fighters received for competing, while matching or exceeding the total purses of many main-card fighters.

UFC Baku’s bonuses only highlight PFL’s legacy contract gap

The revealed PFL San Diego payout also reveals another intriguing reality of the promotion. The night’s highest-paid fighter didn’t fight for a title; still, former Bellator featherweight champion A.J. McKee received a guaranteed $100,000 for his main event versus Salamat Isbulaev.

And unlike most of the roster, his deal didn’t include a win bonus. His six-figure pay was simply guaranteed regardless of the outcome. So, why the big difference? Well, because that contract is mostly the result of the PFL’s acquisition of Bellator in late 2023.

Bellator’s roster had some established stars who had already signed premium contracts, like Cris Cyborg, Patchy Mix, Vadim Nemkov, Usman Nurmagomedov, and Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire. McKee remains one of the biggest names carried over from that era.

The rest of the payroll paints a very different picture. While ‘Mercenary’ earned $100,000 just for showing up, his opponent Salamat Isbulaev received $10,000 for losing the main event.

Co-main event winner Liz Carmouche matched McKee’s $100,000 paycheck with show and win money, but the majority of the undercard fought under traditional $10,000/$10,000 or $20,000/$20,000 contracts. Shannon Clark got $6,000 for her win over Ilara Joanne, while Daniel Bzdigian took home $5,000 in defeat.

The Dana White-led UFC is currently heavily investing in discretionary bonuses, which can significantly increase a fighter’s earnings on fight night, but the PFL’s payroll still revolves around a few legacy Bellator contracts sitting alongside entry-level deals for the majority of the roster.