Aljamain Sterling has finally touched in excess of $1 million in his bank account, the reigning bantamweight champion revealed in a recent conversation with Ariel Helwani following his dominating stoppage win over TJ Dillashaw in his second title defense at UFC 280 this past weekend.
Aljamain Sterling is a veteran of the sport and has fought in the UFC on more than 15 occasions. It won’t be wrong to say that it’s pretty disappointing news that it’s at 33 years of age that the UFC’s Bantamweight Champion can proudly say that he has in the excess of $1 million in his bank account.
Earlier, Sterling had revealed he made $400,000 for his title fight against Petr Yan back at UFC 273. “Full disclosure, my last fight, I made $400,000,” Sterling said. “That’s before taxes, that’s before I paid my coaches, that’s before expenses, and I owed money in taxes from last year. Because of COVID and everything, the things I had to do for my personal side of that, I had to do with family and take care of family and pay stuff, remodeling this, remodeling that, so I owed money.”
“I probably walked away with about $110,000. Now I get to spend that, and I have to budget it, and I’ve got to put away money for savings, and put away stuff for my investments, so now I have to budget all this out to make sure I don’t go broke. So it sounds like, ‘You made a s*** ton of money,’ and yes and no.” Sterling revealed.
Now it might seem like the UFC fighters are earning a lot of money, but their fight pay doesn’t include the expenses of a fight camp. After all these years, Sterling has finally hit the $1 million mark.
Aljamain Sterling made in the excess of $500,000 for UFC 280 fight against TJ Dillashaw
According to reports, Sterling took home a guaranteed purse of $500,000 for his title defense against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 280. The amount can be a lot more behind closed doors, but considering how much Sterling made in his last fight against Petr Yan, it doesn’t look to be the case.
“My bank account, I finally hit a million dollars comfortably. With my three houses and other investments, not including those.” Sterling said following UFC 280. “It might not be something to brag about to other sports, but for someone who has been in a sport like this, where the pay scale isn’t the craziest, I am proud to say all the things I have been able to do, buy my mom a house, buy myself a house. Where I am at right now, I am in a very good place in my life.” He added.
The reaction from UFC fans was very sound, reacting strongly to the unfair pay in the UFC. Here’s what they had to say.
Good for him, but let’s be honest he should’ve hit that # many years ago
— J’s (@cop_dem_Js) October 25, 2022
The main issue is that Dana hates fighters that go public with these sort of things, he’s gotta be smart and keep it behind closed doors and also find a way to create more interest in terms of Marketing during his post fight interviews etc.. to help himself
— AWUREDO (@AOUREDOO) October 25, 2022
On top of his 3 houses too. I’m happy for Aljo, but also just think this should be a no brainer for a UFC champion. When you compare it to other major sports it’s a sad statement.
— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA) October 24, 2022