UFC 333 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Volkanovski and Yan lead $314,500 payout

Fighters on the UFC 333 card at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, October 24, took home a combined $314,500 in UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay, MMA Junkie reported on Sunday, October 25. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and bantamweight champion Petr Yan led the card with $42,000 each.

According to MMA Junkie's list of 2026 payouts, the UFC 333 total is the third-highest of the year, behind UFC 328: Chimaev vs Strickland ($371,000) and UFC 330: Makhachev vs Machado Garry ($327,000), and just ahead of UFC 327: Prochazka vs Ulberg ($312,000).

How the pay works

The Promotional Guidelines Compliance program covers outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, and it replaced the payments previously made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy. The money comes from Venum's multi-year sponsorship deal with the UFC.

Pay is based on a fighter's total number of UFC bouts, plus Zuffa-era WEC fights (from January 2007) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce fights (from April 2011):

• 1-3 bouts: $4,000
• 4-5 bouts: $4,500
• 6-10 bouts: $6,000
• 11-15 bouts: $11,000
• 16-20 bouts: $16,000
• 21 or more bouts: $21,000
• Champions: $42,000; title challengers: $32,000

Fighters also receive royalty payments of 20 to 30 percent on UFC merchandise that uses their likeness, according to officials quoted by MMA Junkie.

Full UFC 333 payouts

• Alexander Volkanovski: $42,000 def. Movsar Evloev: $32,000
• Petr Yan: $42,000 def. Merab Dvalishvili: $32,000
• Lone'er Kavanagh: $6,000 def. Ramazan Temirov: $4,500
• Alexander Volkov: $16,000 def. Rizvan Kuniev: $4,500
• Aaron Pico: $4,000 def. Losene Keita: $4,000
• Dominick Reyes: $16,000 def. Azamat Murzakanov: $6,000
• Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev: $4,500 def. Nikita Krylov: $21,000
• Abus Magomedov: $6,000 def. Cam Rowston: $4,500
• Grant Dawson: $16,000 def. Nurullo Aliev: $4,500
• Colby Thicknesse: $4,500 def. Asaf Chopurov: $4,000
• Abubakar Vagaev: $4,000 def. Jacob Malkoun: $6,000
• Daniel Santos: $6,000 def. Bolaji Oki: $6,000
• Kody Steele: $4,000 def. Noah Gugnon: $4,000
• Iasmin Lucindo: $6,000 def. Nicolle Caliari: $4,500

Notable figures

Outside the two title fights, the biggest cheque went to Nikita Krylov, who earned the top experience tier of $21,000 despite losing to Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev. Volkov, Reyes and Grant Dawson each collected $16,000. Title challengers Evloev and Dvalishvili received $32,000 each.

These figures are separate from fight purses and performance bonuses. As previously reported, Yan vs Dvalishvili earned Fight of the Night, while Volkanovski and Kavanagh took Performance of the Night awards.