Israel Adesanya tops the payroll for UFC 248 ahead of the Las Vegas event on Saturday night.
The “Last Stylebender” defends his world middleweight title against Yoel Romero in the main event, the main card starting around 3 am Sunday morning UK time.
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Can Adesanya retain his middleweight title by beating Romero?
And 18-0-0 Adesanya, being one of the biggest draws in the UFC, is already confirmed as the biggest winner in the impending fight.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission released each fighter’s fee for UFC 248 to MMA Fighting, with Adesanya earning half a million dollars (£ 383,000) to place in first place.
His middleweight title contender Romero will forfeit $ 350,000 (£ 268,000) – in second place behind Adesanya.
UFC 248 salaries
- Israel Adesanya: $ 500,000 in block fees
- Yoel Romero: $ 350,000 in fixed fees
- Zhang Weili: $ 100,000 to show, $ 100,000 to win
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk: $ 106,000 to show, $ 106,000 to win.
- Beneil Dariush: $ 70,000 to show, $ 70,000 to win
- Drakkar Klose: $ 40,000 to show, $ 40,000 to win
- Neil Magny: $ 76,000 to show, $ 76,000 to win
- Li Jingliang: $ 64,000 to show, $ 64,000 to win
- Alex Oliveira: $ 64,000 to show, $ 64,000 to win
- Max Griffin: $ 35,000 to show, $ 35,000 to win
- Sean O’Malley: $ 35,000 to show, $ 35,000 to win
- Jose Quinonez: $ 33,000 to show, $ 33,000 to win
- Mark Madsen: $ 33,000 to show, $ 33,000 to win
- Austin Hubbard: $ 12,000 to show, $ 12,000 to win
- Rodolfo Vieira: $ 14,000 to show, $ 14,000 to win
- Saparbek Safarov: $ 22,000 to show, $ 22,000 to win
- Gerald Meerschaert: $ 30,000 to show, $ 30,000 to win
- Deron Winn: $ 12,000 to show, $ 12,000 to win
- Emily Whitmire: $ 14,000 to show, $ 14,000 to win
- Polyana Viana: $ 18,000 to show, $ 18,000 to win
- Giga Chikadze: $ 12,000 to show, $ 12,000 to win
- Jamall Emmers: $ 10,000 to show, $ 10,000 to win
- Batgerel Danaa: $ 10,000 to show, $ 10,000 to win
- Guido Cannetti: $ 14,000 to show, $ 14,000 to win
Before the fight, there was a last cold glance between Adesanya and Romero, after the first took out a Cuban cigar during its weighing.
Romero, the 42-year-old Cuban, however, was clearly not intimidated overnight.
He never broke eye contact and remained perfectly still despite Adesanya wincing and trembling in an attempt to get under the skin of his opponent.
“Soldier of God”, who was 13-4-0 before the bout, revealed that he intended to knock Adesanya to the middleweight title.
“I have to finish,” said the veteran. “I don’t want to go too crazy, but I have to finish the fight.
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There was a drama during the weigh-in before Adesanya vs Romero
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“My team and I have a plan to knock him out. When he makes the little mistake – boom. “
Adesanya, however, is not at all afraid of Romero.
“I saw this guy leave,” added the latest Stylebender. “It tells me what kind of person he is.”
“You see him cheating, grabbing the inside of the gloves, grabbing the fence, and they call these” veteran moves “.
“I played against one of the best and most cunning veterans of Anderson Silva and all of his fugazi and it didn’t work for me. I’m too aware of this … I’ve seen it before. “
