How much does PRIDE pay fighters?

As I mentioned before, the "At the Front Lines of the Poaching War" magazine has some interesting information. On page 50, the magazine claims that it has seen some contracts between Dream Stage Entertainment and some fighters. They also print a copy of a typical DSE contract on the same page. The article includes the information about the minimum guarantee (like an appearance fee) for one fight for many fighters.

This is for foreign fighters only. There was no information about Japanese fighters.

Mirko Cro Cop: 50 million yen
Emelianenko Fedor: 30 million ~ 50 million yen
Josh Barnett: 30 million yen
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: 30 million yen
Mark Hunt: 10 million ~ 30 million yen
Sergei Kharitonov: 5 million yen
Emelianenko Aleksander: 5 million yen
Vanderlei Silva: 20 million ~ 40 million yen
Quinton Rampage Jackson: 15 million yen
Ricardo Arona: 5 million yen
Others, like sideshow fighters and first-timers: 1.5 million yen

How much is this in American dollars? Most of these contracts were signed in 2005 and 2006, so for the exchange rate, about 110 yen per dollar is a good enough average. That means that we get this.

Mirko Cro Cop: $450,000
Emelianenko Fedor: $270,000 ~ $450,000
Josh Barnett: $270,000
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: $270,000
Mark Hunt: $90,000 ~ $270,000
Sergei Kharitonov: $50,000
Emelianenko Aleksander: $50,000
Vanderlei Silva: $180,000 ~ $360,000
Quinton Rampage Jackson: $140,000
Ricardo Arona: $45,000
Others, like sideshow fighters and first-timers: $13,000

Looking at the above, I guess that many Americans will say that these numbers are not that high in comparison to top UFC fighters. However, I should repeat that these are guarantee payouts. For a special fight, fighters probably make extra. This is definitely true for New Year's Eve fights. Rumors about certain fighters, like Royce Gracie, Yoshida Hidehiko recently, making 1 oku yen ($910,000) or more than 1 oku yen for New Year's Eve fights are probably true. Many people also think that Mirko and Fedor signed for a big extra payout for the championship fight in 2005.

Also, the magazine article states that contracts with some fighters also include health insurance or promise to pay an amount to a fighter's family if he has a major injury from a fight. These are benefits that might not be typical among event promotions.

But most regular MMA fans in Japan agree that PRIDE is definitely in a weak financial condition, so it will be hard for DSE to keep paying high guarantees and salaries to keep up with the competition. UFC is making much more money these days, mostly through PPV. At this time, UFC should have enough profit to pay more than PRIDE.