Hunt named to NZ top 20 sporting rich list, but…

UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt was recently named to the top 20 list of highest paid New Zealand athletes. The article noted that “unlike overseas, and in particular the US, sports salaries here are not widely known, so this is not an exact science, but a close approximation.”

Hunt’s yearly salary was estimated at US $690,000.

Mark Hunt is New Zealand’s biggest name involved in the world’s fastest growing sport.

Hunt recently signed a new six-fight deal with UFC worth about US$350,000 ($445,000) per fight, win, lose or draw. Given the brutal nature of the sport, Hunt only fights twice a year bringing his annual income to about NZ$890,000. He could earn a further US$500,000 if he challenges for the UFC heavyweight title, but it is very much a long shot for him to get that opportunity.

Hunt can also earn a US$50,000 bonus if he is awarded “fight of the night” honours, as he has done in four of his past six bouts.

Despite his high profile in the UFC world, Hunt has struggled to attract sponsorship dollars. Even his recent agreement with Sky Arena is geared more towards assisting him with promotion, rather than further lining his pockets. Hunt has a couple of low-level sponsors who cover his training camp costs, which can be as much as $70,000 per camp.

Hunt has one of the most remarkable stories in the UFC. He came into the league having lost five in a row. This would not normally interested the UFC, but he had a contract with Pride, and the UFC honored it. His first was with Sean McCorkle, and he lost that in 63 seconds. Somehow, despite being on a six-fight losing streak, he got one more fight, and won it. In fact, he only lost one of the next six, and is now a top contender, who recently signed a contract that will take him to the end of his career.

The terms of Hunt’s new contract are not known, and his last two fights were overseas, where salaries are not generally disclosed. Still, the 350k show money with no win bonus cited above sounds high. Hunt’s last fight with a reported salary was $210,000 for losing to Junior dos Santos in May of 2013; the figure includes a $50,000 performance bonus. He made both his win and his show money for his two other fights that year, plus three more $50,000 performance bonuses (he got Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva’s bonus, when the Brazilian failed a PED test.

Hunt has said he is financially set, and fights because he enjoys it. However, he linked on Twitter to the article above and said “Don’t know why my picture is on this list ufc fighters get paid average unless u are the champ.”

Hunt fought three times last year, and although his income is not known, it was far in excess of $400,000, which is what qualifies to be in the top 1% of income earners in the USA. Per capita GNP in New Zealand is about 40% lower than in the USA, so in his home country, his income farther still from average.

Thus Hunt was in all likelihood not referring to his income compared to the average person. Rather he meant average compared to top athletes. The figures compiled for the top 20 athletes in New Zealand began with about US $620,000 for jockey James McDonald, so Hunt’s income is not average for a New Zealand professional athlete, either. It is in fact among the highest. Thus it appears Hunt meant he was paid average compared to the top international soccer, boxing, and basketball stars. According to Forbes the top 80 athletes on Earth pull down tens of millions of dollars per year, something no mixed martial arts league has yet to achieve, including Pride in its heyday, when it dominated Japanese television on the most popular night of the year, and was selling out Toyko National Stadium with 71,000 spectators.

Some day before too long a UFC fighter will break into the top 100 worldwide. The cut off this year was soccer player Luis Suarez at $17,300,000. Likeliest candidates today are Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones, or maybe even Conor McGregor.