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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.