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Highest paid fighters in UFC: Which stars have earned the most UFC prize money till 2020?

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The UFC has paid out millions to fighters in prize money but some of them have racked up huge sums till 2020

The UFC has some of the highest-paid fighters in the world across its divisions. The prize money handed out by the UFC is dependent on a per-fight basis and so are the contracts in the promotion.

Normally, fighters are also paid additional fees for Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night. The winners of these prizes end up getting an additional $50,000, also, many of the payments made are broken up into appearance fee, contractual bonuses and even sponsorship payouts.

Khabib Nurmagomedov holds down Conor McGregor in their UFC lightweight championship bout during UFC 229 (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Many stars have earned huge amounts thanks to their time in the UFC and here are the 20 highest earners till 2020.

Sr no UFC Fighter UFC Prize money till 2020
1 Conor McGregor $15.1m
2 Alistair Overeem $9.6m
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov $8.7m
4 Anderson Silva $8.1m
5 Michael Bisping $7.1m
6 Georges St-Pierre $7.0m
7 Jon Jones $7.0m
8 Mark Hunt $6.3m
9 Donald Cerrone $6.2m
10 Junior Dos Santos $6.0m
11 Daniel Cormier $5.7m
12 Vitor Belfort $5.5m
13 Andrei Arlovski $5.4m
14 Brock Lesnar $5.1m
15 Nate Diaz $4.9m
16 Mauricio Rua $4.8m
17 Rashad Evans $4.7m
18 Lyoto Machida $4.6m
19 Frankie Edgar $4.6m
20 Stipe Miocic $4.5m

McGregor leading the charge

It should come as no surprise that Conor McGregor tops the list of the highest-paid UFC fighters till 2020.

The Notorious one might not be a champion currently, but he is still one of the biggest names in the business. His title clash against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 is still one of the biggest PPV events of all time, and well, McGregor deserves every bit of money he has made from the UFC.

Conor McGregor reacts before taking on Donald Cerrone in their welterweight bout during UFC246 (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)

Alistair Overeem should be on the list thanks to his longevity in the MMA circuit. He is a former champion too in other promotions and has some of the biggest knockout wins in the history of the sport.

Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Michael Bisping and Mark Hunt are legends in the world of the UFC, and it makes sense they also made a ton of money before hanging up their gloves.

It is imperative to note that these are figures based on fight fees and doesn’t include those from other endorsements etc.

Georges St-Pierre of Canada reacts following his victory over Michael Bisping of England in their UFC middleweight championship bout during the UFC 217 event at Madison Square Garden on November 4, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Current stars hoping to make it big

While some of the greatest UFC stars from the past are included in the top 20 earners of all time, there are a few active stars looking to make it big.

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Jon Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov are two stars that could usurp McGregor in being the top earners in UFC history.

Dominick Reyes and Jon Jones in their UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout during UFC 247 (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Nurmagomedov and Jones might be in their 30s but they still have a few good years in them and are untouchable as champions in their respective divisions.

Going a little further down, we have Stipe Miocic, the UFC Heavyweight champion too. He is to face Daniel Cormier at UFC 252 and that will be DC’s final fight as he tries to reclaim the title.

Brock Lesnar is also a big name on the list, even though he wasn’t in the UFC for a long time. He did win the Heavyweight title but has now moved back to WWE.

Ronda Rousey joined the WWE after a successful time with the UFC (Image credit: Getty)

The only woman who comes in the top 25 is former UFC and MMA star Ronda Rousey. She made a total of $4.3 million from her time in the UFC but has since tried her luck in WWE before retiring from that too.

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Saiyed Adeem Karim

Ditching a corporate job to follow a dream isn't easy, but when football comes calling, who can say no? Been following the beautiful game since 1998. Liverpool addict, F1 fanatic!