Paige VanZant Calls CM Punk "Too Old," UFC 203 Incident, Complete UFC 203 Fighter Salaries
- UFC strawweight contender Paige VanZant talked about CM Punk's UFC 203 MMA debut with TMZ Sports recently. VanZant was a runner-up on "Dancing with the Stars" earlier this year.
While VanZant admitted that she "loves" Phil Brooks for his dedication and willingness to try MMA, she believes the former WWE super is "too old" to actually compete in the UFC.
- Fabricio Werdum and Edmund Tarverdyan nearly came to blows following Werdum's UFC 203 win over Travis Browne this past Saturday night. After Tarverdyan, a coach for Browne and his girlfriend, Ronda Rousey, noticed Werdum making a "crying" gesture with his hands and face, he verbally confronted the former UFC heavyweight champion.
Werdum, fresh off a 15-minute battle with Browne that he won, would have none of it. The Brazilian delivered a front-kick that sent Tarverdyan back and brought both corners together inside the Octagon. MMAjunkie talked with Ohio Athletic Commission executive director Bernie Profato about the incident.
"Being a former cop, you sometimes find you did better giving them a break," Profato said. "I shook hands with them and said, 'This is (expletive) guy, this is TV. I've got your names – if I think something's going wrong in the future, you will not be able to work the corner. If I hear of any actions against you, I won't license you."
- While much was made of CM Punk's salary for his MMA debut at UFC 203 this past weekend, the rest of the card went down as expected. Alistair Overeem picked up the biggest disclosed payday, pocketing $800,000 for his main event loss to UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who earned $600,000.
Complete fighter salaries can be found below:
* Stipe Miocic: $600,000 (no win bonus)
* Alistair Overeem: $800,000
* Fabricio Werdum: $375,000 (includes $125,000 win bonus)
* Travis Browne: $120,000
* Mickey Gall: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
* Phil "CM Punk" Brooks: $500,000
* Jimmie Rivera: $48,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus)
* Urijah Faber: $160,000
* Jessica Andrade: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus)
* Joanne Calderwood: $25,000
* Bethe Correia: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
* Jessica Eye: $25,000
* Brad Tavares: $56,000 (includes $28,000 win bonus)
* Caio Magalhaes: $20,000
* Nik Lentz: $76,000 (includes $38,000 win bonus)
* Michael McBride: $12,000
* Yancy Medeiros: $48,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus)
* Sean Spencer: $17,000
* Drew Dober: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus)
* Jason Gonzales: $10,000