Submitted UFC 311 undercard fighter and prelim winner earned more than Islam Makhachev for main event title fight

The announced UFC 311 purses have been released by the California State Athletic Commission and there are some extremely surprising payouts from the first UFC PPV of 2025.

The UFC kicked off their 2025 PPV schedule this past Saturday with UFC 311 from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, as Islam Makhachev successfully defended his lightweight title in the main event against Renato Moicano.

That fight was made on just a few hours' notice when Arman Tsarukyan pulled out of his scheduled fight against Makhachev due to a back injury.

READ MORE: Islam Makhachev sensationally calls out Dricus Du Plessis in 'three-time champion' plea after UFC 311

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Kevin Holland earns more than Islam Makhachev at UFC 311

The California State Athletic Commission has released twelve official base purses for UFC 311. These purses do not include sponsorships, bonuses outside of the standard show/win deals, or any pay-per-view deals a fighter has with the promotion.

Despite this, there is widespread surprise at some of the base purses revealed, as several fighters on the undercard made more money than lightweight champion Makhachev.

'Money' Moicano lived up to his nickname and earned a base salary of $250,000, while the 33-year-old champion only earned $200,000 from his base budget.

In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili retained his bantamweight title with a huge victory over undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov. 'The Machine' took home the highest base salary of the night at a whopping $500,000, and also earned a $50,000 performance bonus.

Nurmagomedov earned $100,000, while also collecting another $50,000 for Fight of the Night.

Former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka took home $250,000 for his third-round KO of fellow former champion Jamahal Hill, who earned $200,000.

One of the most surprising aspects of this is that Grant Dawson, who played Diego Ferreira in the preliminaries, earned $212,000, which was $12,000 more than Makhachev.

And similarly, both Kevin Holland and Reinier de Ridder earned more than the champion, taking home $250,000 and $210,000 respectively. The Netherlands was submitted in the first round by the former ONE Championship doubles champion.

Islam Makhachev finally changes Dana White's mind

Despite the reported base amounts, Makhachev will likely have made a nice sum all-in for his record-breaking title defense when sponsorship and PPV deals are added.

Although the 33-year-old had to deal with an extremely unfortunate late change of opponent, one of whom has a different style to the original Tsarukyan, Makhachev remained completely unfazed.

With his victory, the Russian champion has changed the mind of Dana White, who has finally recognized Makhachev as the pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world after years of campaigning for Jon Jones.

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