The curious case of Andrei Arlovski

How the modern UFC provides more room for an MMA upper-middle class.

Illustration by Chris Rini

When former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski enters the cage next Saturday, January 13th, it’ll be 23 years since he first stepped inside the Octagon. It’ll be nearly 10 years since he made his return to the UFC, after braving the wilds in Strikeforce, Affliction, and the WSOF.

Suffice to say, Arlovski has been fighting at a very high level in MMA for a long, long time. And while we don’t know exactly what his current contract looks like, it’s also a near sure thing that win or lose against Waldo Cortes-Acosta the ‘Pitbull’ will make a healthy six figures just for showing up.

In his last publicly reported payday, against Philipe Lins in 2020, the Belarussian took home $325,000 for a unanimous decision victory. A year earlier, in a loss to Augusto Sakai, Arlovski made a cool $300,000. In 2018, he brought home $275,000 for a win over Stefan Struve. No win bonuses, just a flat salary, steadily increasing year over year. If that math has remained the same, that could mean the 44-year-old will be taking home $425,000 in just a few days no matter the result.

This all seems to stem from a renegotiated deal ahead of the then Jackson-Wink talent’s 2015 fight against Frank Mir. On a five fight win streak at the time, Arlovski jumped from $42,000/$42,000 (show/win) against Travis Browne to a flat $225,000 with incremental bumps. A smart move to be sure, but also one that feels—8+ years on—like an indication of an increasingly present option for UFC talent…