Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Tom Aspinall, UFC
Nasir Jabbar
Tom Aspinall earned a measly purse for his first MMA fight as he is in line to pocket a huge payout from his UFC 321 title bout.
Aspinall makes his eagerly-awaited comeback at Saturday's UFC 321 from Abu Dhabi.
He defends his UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in a blockbuster main-event.
It's the first defence of his UFC championship since he was elevated to undisputed status following Jon Jones' retirement.
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Aspinall's journey to the top was long but worthwhile.
He made his professional MMA debut at MMA Versus UK: Empire Rises back in December 2014.
The Brit needed just 15 seconds to beat Michal Piszczek.
As they say in the fight game, you don't get paid for overtime.
During his appearance on The Diary of a CEO, Aspinall reflected on his rise up the ranks and recalled how much he was paid for his pro debut.
He revealed that he made just £200.
Aspinall told Steven Bartlett: "As an amateur, I was obviously getting ticket money. So the way it worked... if you sold a ticket for £30, you would get £5 of it. So the promoters would get a little percentage thing going.
“I was maybe making between £50-100 a fight [as an amateur]... nearly a grand [from nine fights combined]."
He added: "Remember my first pro fight [outside of the UFC], I got 200 quid."
Aspinall's pay cheques nowadays are a lot, lot bigger.
After racking up wins at BAMMA and Cage Warriors, he was snapped up by the UFC, who have paid him handsomely since he became UFC champion.
The 32-year-old is set to pocket a base salary of $500,000 (£376,000) for his UFC 321 title bout against Gane.
But he is also in line to receive a share of the pay-per-view buys given he is a champion.
Aspinall has won seven Performance of the Night bonuses in his UFC career, with each bonus worth $50,000 (£38,000).
So, he could walk away from Abu Dhabi with almost $1 million (£750,000) depending on the success of the PPV event and whether he can secure a post-fight bonus.
Brits can watch UFC on TNT Sports via discovery+, which can be purchased as a ‘streaming add-on’ to your existing TV package (for Prime Video users that’s £30.99 a month or for Sky users that’s £31 a month). It’s also included in selected BT EE TV packages from £18 per month.