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UFC Fighter Reveals Shocking Salary: 'I Sacrificed My Whole Life for This Sport'

Fighters might want to cross this country off their lists.

Mathew Riddle

UFC Fighter Reveals Shocking Salary: 'I Sacrificed My Whole Life for This Sport'
UFC Fighter Reveals Shocking Salary: 'I Sacrificed My Whole Life for This Sport' /

John Makdessi, a 20-fight UFC veteran, has revealed his earnings for his UFC 293 performance against Jamie Mullarkey in Sydney, Australia. "The Bull" posted a picture of his paysheet for the fight in a since deleted post on X on September 14:

Makdessi's original caption read, "I sacrificed my whole life for this sport and put everything on the line. Damn Australian government and the judges robbed me pretty badly."

Makdessi's earnings reveal his gross show purse as $58,000, with $3,438.35 in deductions due to airfare and medical bills, and a whopping 45% deduction due to foreign federal tax; all in all it reduced his purse to $28,461.65. 

Consider that Makdessi lost his $58,000 win money due to questionable judging, his outrage is even more justifiable. One user was keen to point out, "Am I reading that right that airfare gets deducted from their pay?"

Featherweight contender Chase Hooper helped to clarify this information:

"UFC pays for your flight plus one of your corners with the ability to have your other corner's flights taken out of your check. It's always been that way to my knowledge. The prefight medicals needed for licensing are on you to cover but everything else is covered."

Unfortunately for Makdessi, 45% is the top marginal tax rate in Australia. This is because of Australia's tax treatment of non-resident athletes:

"Athletes’ income in Australia is generally treated in the same way as income earned by other Australian residents. This means they are liable for tax in both the country where they earn income, and on any worldwide income in their country of residence.

"Australia taxes residents on domestic and foreign source income and

also

non-residents on Australian source income" via

ResearchGate

Many fighters might now think twice about adding Australia as a potential venue for their bouts in light of this revelation.

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Mathew Riddle
MATHEW RIDDLE

Mathew is a UK-based combat sports journalist, graphic designer, and SEO expert with over five years of experience in digital marketing and a dedicated four-year track record in MMA journalism. He joined MMAKO in 2023. Mathew's insights have been featured on The Fight Fanatic, Heavy on UFC, Fansided, and Sportskeeda. Reach him at mr@thefightfanatic.com.

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