UFC Des Moines was everything fans could hope for. A power-packed card with star power and uncharacteristic results. Bo Nickal lost his undefeated streak and what was left of his hype as he got dominated in every aspect of the game and stopped by the prodigal Reinier de Ridder in the second round of their co-main event clash, earning the Dutch former two-division champion a $50k bonus.
The main event was just as action-packed as bantamweight star Cory Sandhagen made a case for a title shot by stopping former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in the second round, courtesy of a knee injury suffered by the Brazilian. In this article, we take a look at the compliance pay the stars on the main card made for their efforts.
How much did Bo Nickal, Cory Sandhagen, et al make in compliance pay for UFC Des Moines?
Compliance Pay, of course, is paid out according to pre-determined tiers, which are based upon how many fights a fighter has had in the UFC if they stick to the Fighter Code of Conduct and fulfill apparel and media day obligations. The highest tier is for champions, and the second highest tier is for title challengers. These two tiers are not dependent upon the number of fights, though.
Since there were no title fights on the UFC Des Moines card, the highest tier did not come into play at the event. Cory Sandhagen made $11,000 in compliance pay, while his opponent, Figueiredo, who is more experienced, got $16,000. Reinier de Ridder made $4,000, while a slightly less green Nickal took home $4,500 in compliance pay for their co-main event clash.
Further down the card, Daniel Rodriguez made $11,000 for his third-round stoppage over Santiago Ponzinibbio, who made $16,000 in compliance pay. Jeremy Stephens, the famous “who the fook is that guy” guy, returned to the UFC for a clash in his hometown, and took home the highest non-title/challenger tier $21,000 in compliance pay.
On the other hand, his opponent, Mason Jones, took home merely $4,500 in compliance pay, but did get a victory over the veteran. Guys like Stephens and Figueiredo were he lucky ones, as fourteen out of the twenty-four fighters on the card failed to make more than five figures in compliance pay.
How is compliance pay determined?
The total compliance payout for the UFC Des Moines card totalled just a shade over $203,000, taking the to-date 2025 total to over $2.78 million. So far, the UFC has paid out over $33 million in total compliance payouts since the program began. Another important thing to remember is that it isn’t the UFC that pays out the compliance pay.
The Dana White-led promotion’s official apparel partner, Venum, actually puts up the money for compliance pay under the deal they have with the UFC. But how is compliance pay determined? Title holders get a flat $42,000 while their challengers get $32,000 in compliance pay.
In addition, there are six other tiers where compliance pay is determined by the number of bouts a fighter has had. The first and lowest tier is for fighters with less than three fights, who get $4,000, followed by fighters with 4-5 fights, who make $4,670. 6-10 bout fighters get $6,000, while 11-15 ones make $11,000 in compliance pay.
The second highest non-title/challenger tier is for 16-20 bout fighters, who get $16,000. The final tier is for fighters who have fought 21 times or more in the UFC, in which case they make $21,000. What do you think about UFC’s compliance payout for UFC Des Moines?
The post After Dana White Splurges $200K, 14 Fighters Fail to Cross 5-Figure Mark as ESPN Reveals UFC Des Moines Promotional Pay appeared first on EssentiallySports.
