Paddy Pimblett earned a guaranteed purse of just £9,000 for his appearance at UFC London before separate £9,000 and £38,000 bonuses boosted his earnings.
The UFC star was involved in the one of the biggest fights of the night where he secured an opening round stoppage over Rodrigo Vargas. However he currently remains sitting on the promotion's basic salary package which sees him earn £9,000.
On top of this Pimblett earned another £9,000 for winning his fight with another £38,000 bonus handed to the UFC star for his emphatic first-round submission. A fan website claimed after the fight that the 27-year-old had earned around £82,000 for his appearance at the O2 Arena.
However Pimblett quickly moved to dismiss the claims: "I wish I was getting paid that are yous for f***ing real?!" He later confirmed in an interview that he earned $12,000 for fighting with the same again on offer for winning.
After recording a second victory during his time with the promotion, Pimblett is being billed as one of the promotion's biggest future stars and is earning comparisons with former double-champion Conor McGregor.
He has followed a similar path to the Irishman having earned a contract with the UFC on the back of becoming Cage Warriors champion, and he has now faced calls to face top 15 ranked opponents after such a dominant display. But the lightweight star has refused to accept the bigger fights until he is handed a new and improved deal.
"Without being a big-headed tool, I am the star of the show,” Pimblett told reporters after his win. “It’s that simple. Expect me to take over the show. I told you this. This is the ‘Baddy’ show. Swept the O2 right up. I wouldn’t take a top 15 fight, I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t. Add some more zeroes to my contract and then I will. I think I proved tonight that I deserve a new contract. Not this little standard one.”
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UFC president Dana White ultimately decided to hand bonuses to nine fighters on the card after the victory, with seven British fighters picking up wins including Pimblett's teammate Molly McCann and Tom Aspinall. Pimblett is becoming notorious for his antics in post-fight interviews, having called out Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg after his victory.
After putting on another show for the packed out arena, Pimblett has suggested that his fights are already more exciting than UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov. "That's another performance of the night," Pimblett said. "I'm never in a boring fight, that's something that you can't say about me. Khabib might have went 29-0 but he was never in an exciting fight like that, end of.
"I'm going to continue to prove myself right as I climb the rankings. I've seen a lot of people slating me saying I'll never beat the top 15, but do you think half the people who are in the top 15 now will still be there when I'm actually fighting the top 15?"
