Nigerian born, Israel Adesanya still left the UFC 259 arena as the highest paid fighter, despite suffering his first Mixed Martial Arts defeat in the hands of hard-hitting Polish light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
Adesanya, along with Blachowicz; women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and challenger Meagan Anderson as well as Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling were the main card for the night but it was the New Zealander who went home with the heaviest purse.
Adesanya took home an estimated $1m for the fight and a guaranteed $40,000 fight week incentive while his conqueror, Blachowicz earned $750,000 for his win and $40,000 fight week incentive, according to UFCsalaries.com.
His pay for the fight could be further increased as his contract for UFC 259 included a payout from the overall Pay Per View income, which is estimated at $1m, but his opponent is not entitled to the PPV largess.
The 31-year-old earned $690,000 from his middleweight title defence against Brazilian Paulo Costa in September 2020.
The UFC 259 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on a Saturday night. Adesanya had a shot at history to become UFC’s fifth double-champion by joining the likes of Amanda Nunes, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo as the only UFC’s simultaneous two-belt champions but failed.
This loss means his unbeatable record has been broken as Blachowicz who successfully defended his light heavyweight strap. It also means Adesanya’s nine-win streak in the UFC has come to an end.
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