10 Richest UFC Fighters Of All Time

Richest UFC Fighters Of All Time - Photo: Knowinsiders.com

UFC fighters are complaining about their salary in recent times, but how much are they worth? Who’s ranked number one in the richest UFCfighters list?

UFC has come a long way since the days it was a no-holds-barred fighting event. Rookie fighters used to enter the ring expecting a slightly bigger paycheck than traditional wrestling competitions, but with far more risks involved.

Nowadays, the industry has evolved into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, has stricter guidelines, and far more lucrative financial incentives for its fighters. Today, we will take a look at 20 of the world’s richest UFC players and discuss each of their current net worth.

Who’s the richest UFC fighter? You might already know the answer to that question if you are an avid UFC follower. Just in case you don’t, we are going to reveal who it is towards the end of this piece.

But before we get to that, let’s see which other UFC contestants made the list.

List of top 10 richest UFC fighters of all time (2021/2022)

10. Randy Couture

9. Wanderlei Silva

8. Fedor Emelianenko

7. Anderson Silva

6. BJ Penn

5. Brock Lesnar

4. George St. Pierre

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov

2. Rorian Gracie

1. Conor McGregor

Detailed information on top 10 richest UFC fighters of all time (update 2021/2022)

10. Randy Couture

Photo: CBS Sports

Net Worth: $17 Million

Randy Duane Couture (born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former U.S. Army sergeant, retired mixed martial artist and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he became a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, two-time UFC Light heavyweight Champion, an interim UFC Light heavyweight Champion, making him a six-time UFC Champion and the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament winner. He is the first of seven fighters to hold two UFC championship titles in two different divisions (along with B.J. Penn, Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Henry Cejudo).

Couture has competed in a record 16 title fights. He is tied for the record for the most wins in UFC Heavyweight Championship bouts (6) with former UFC Heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. He had the most title reigns in the UFC, with six. His last fight with Lyoto Machida marked his 24th fight in the UFC. He is the fourth member of the UFC Hall of Fame. He is the only person over the age of 40 to have won a UFC championship fight, having done so four times. He is one of the few MMA champions to regain a title he had lost, and the only to have done it three times (twice at heavyweight, once at light heavyweight).

Couture was an Olympic wrestling alternate and has lived in Corvallis, Oregon throughout much of his career, where he served as an assistant wrestling coach and a strength and conditioning coach for Oregon State University. He established Team Quest with Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson, a training camp for fighters, based out of Gresham, Oregon, and headed by coach Robert Folis. In 2005, he moved to Las Vegas, where he opened his own extensive chain of gyms under the name Xtreme Couture. He partnered with Bas Rutten to open Legends Gym in Hollywood, California.

9. Wanderlei Silva

Photo: Getty Images

Net Worth: $18 Million

Wanderlei César da Silva (born 3 July 1976), is a Brazilian / American mixed martial artist who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He holds the record for the most wins, knockouts, title defenses, and longest winning streak in PRIDE history. He is the former PRIDE Middleweight Champion, and the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion. He most recently competed for Bellator MMA in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.

8. Fedor Emelianenko

Photo: Peace and Sport

Net Worth: $18 Million

Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko (Russian: Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, tr. Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, born 28 September 1976) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist (MMA), sambist, and judoka, currently competing for Rizin Fighting Federation and Bellator MMA. He has won championships and accolades in multiple sports, most notably in MMA Pride Fighting Championships (heavyweight champion 2003-2007), FIAS World Combat Sambo Championship (Heavyweight Champion 2002, 2005, 2007), and Russian Judo Federation National Championship (Bronze medal 1998, 1999).

Emelianenko began his MMA career on 21 May 2000, with four straight victories. After a controversial loss in December 2000, Emelianenko was unbeaten in his next 28 fights up until June 2010, including wins over four former UFC champions, one Pride FC champion, one former and two future K-1 champions, and two Olympic medalists.

Emelianenko has earned numerous MMA accolades. Sports Illustrated, among other publications, named him the top MMA fighter of the 2000s.

Emelianenko is currently a staff member of Russia's Presidential Council on Physical Fitness & Sports (2012 – present), and a deputy at Belgorod Regional Duma (2010 – present).

6. BJ Penn

Photo: Getty images

Net Worth: $22 Million

Jay Dee "B.J." Penn III (born December 13, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Penn competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and in K-1. Penn was the first American Gold medalist of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. In mixed martial arts, Penn has competed in the Featherweight, Lightweight, Welterweight, and Middleweight divisions. A former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Welterweight Champion, he is the second of seven fighters in UFC history to win titles in multiple weight classes. Penn fought to a draw against Caol Uno in the UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament. Through his tenures as champion, Penn unofficially unified the UFC Lightweight Championship (against Sean Sherk) and broke the all-time lightweight title defense record. In 2015, Penn was made the inaugural inductee into the Modern-era wing of the UFC Hall of Fame. Penn was considered one of the top pound-for-pound mixed martial artists in the world early in his career and holds victories over opponents such as Din Thomas, Caol Uno, Paul Creighton, and Matt Serra. Penn won the Rumble on the Rock Lightweight Championship in K-1. He submitted long-reigning then-champion Matt Hughes to capture the UFC Welterweight Championship.

5. Brock Lesnar

Photo: Getty Images

Net Worth: $28 Million

Brock Edward Lesnar is a popular American wrestler, football player, and mixed martial artist. Currently signed with ‘World Wrestling Entertainment’ (WWE), he is the former ‘WWE’ universal champion. Born and raised in Webster, South Dakota, Brock became an amateur wrestler and a skilled footballer while he was in high school. He was a two-time state champion in amateur wrestling. He joined ‘WWE’ in 2000 and became the youngest ‘WWE’ champion at the age of 25. He also became the second quickest wrestler to win the championship in ‘WWE’ history. In 2004, he put his wrestling career on hold to pursue a career in the ‘National Football League.’ He signed with the ‘Minnesota Vikings,’ and played several preseason games for the team. In 2006, he also joined K-1’s mixed martial arts league. Apart from making a cameo appearance in the American biographical sports crime drama film ‘Foxcatcher,’ Lesnar has also been featured as a cover athlete for many video games, such as ‘WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain,’ ‘WWE 2K17,’ and ‘UFC Undisputed 2010.’ Lesnar was once arrested on suspicion of possessing anabolic steroids. The charges were dropped when the drugs were ascertained as legal growth hormones.

4. George St. Pierre

Photo: Getty Images

Net Worth: $30 Million

Georges "Rush" St-Pierre, also known as “GSP,” is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist and UFC world champion who holds black belts in both Kyokushin karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Georges was raised in St-Isidore, Quebec, a town of about 2,000 people. As a child he was bullied for years by older schoolmates. His father had introduced him to Kyokushin karate at age 7, “but life isn’t like a movie,” he said. “You can do all the karate you want, when you’re eight or nine-years-old and they’re 12, when you’re alone and there’s three of them, you can’t do anything. That’s the reality.”

Already a 2nd dan Kyokushin karate black belt at 12, Georges dedicated himself to martial arts and training throughout his teen years. After seeing Royce Gracie fight in 1993 at UFC 1, Georges knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life and how he was going to reach those goals: he invested all his energy and all his time at becoming a better version of himself. When he wasn’t training or at school, Georges worked as a doorman in nightclubs, or hung off the back of a garbage truck, hauling in refuse. He discovered a simple truth: never stopping helps reach goals.

He grew as a person and as a fighter. He added fighting disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to his karate background and competed in his first amateur bout at age 16. He won that match, and continued his steady improvement. In 2006 he became the UFC Welterweight Champion. He lost the title in 2007 but subsequently regained it in front of his hometown fans of Montreal in 2008 and hasn’t lost a single title defense since then.

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Photo: Kickfit Sports

Net Worth: $30 Million

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a retired Russian mixed martial artist, who competed in several forms like judo, wrestling, sambo etc. He is best known for his record of longest unbeaten record of 29 wins in mixed martial arts (MMA). He fought in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fight Championship and was the longest-reigning UFC Lightweight Champion, having held the title from April 2018 to March 2021. Trained in martial arts from a young age, he developed an interest in the same seeing his father training his students. He was ranked as an International Master of Sports in Army Hand-to-Hand Combat, an International Master of Sports in Pankration, and a World Champion in combat sambo. Khabib Nurmagomedov won several titles in numerous fields like mixed martial arts, sambo, grappling and pankration. He is the most-followed Russian on Instagram, with more than 28 million followers.

2. Rorian Gracie

Photo: Bjj Eastern Group

Net Worth: $50 Million

Rorion Gracie is a Brazilian American Jiu-Jitsu Grand Master. He is the eldest son of Hélio Gracie and a prominent member of the Gracie family. He is also a lecturer, writer, producer, publisher and co-founder of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is widely recognized as one of the 9th degree red belt holders in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and hailed for introducing the sport in America as well as in the rest of the world. Once named ‘Instructor of the Year’ in ‘Black Belt Magazine,’ Gracie has also worked as an extra in television and movies. His minor contributions to the silver screen include choreographing of the fight scenes for Rene Russo and Mel Gibson in the flick ‘Lethal Weapon’. As a producer, Gracie has made the documentary ‘Gracie Jiu-Jitsu In Action’. He has also written the book titled ‘Gracie Diet’. The Brazilian American Jiu-Jitsu Grand Master, who is active on Instagram and Facebook, has millions of followers across the globe. People of every age group, especially those who are interested in martial arts, admire Gracie to a great extent.

1. Conor McGregor

Photo: Marca

Net Worth: $110 Million

Conor McGregor is an Irish professional mixed martial artist who is currently signed with the ‘Ultimate Fighting Championship’ (UFC). He is the former ‘UFC’ lightweight and featherweight champion. Over the course of his career, he has competed as a featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight participant. Also a skilled professional boxer, he has achieved most of his victories due to knockouts or technical knockouts via punches. He started his mixed martial arts (MMA) career in 2008, and within a few years won two titles—Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight Championships, which he held simultaneously before he vacated them to sign with ‘UFC.’ He is known for being in the biggest pay-per-view draw in MMA history, and he lives an extravagant lifestyle. In 2016, he got into the ‘Forbes’ top 100 highest paid athletes list—the first MMA fighter to do so—and ranked 85th in the list. He was injured during a bout with Max Holloway which kept him out of action for ten months. After winning the lightweight championship, he took some time off from ‘UFC’ prior to the birth of his first child in May 2017.

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