10 Main Event Wrestlers Who Were Paid SIGNIFICANTLY More Than Their Opponents

3. CM Punk Gets Beat Up On UFC For Lots And Lots Of Money

CM Punk earned a cool $500,000 for just over 2 minutes worth of fight time at UFC 203 in his debut with the promotion, which is essentially the MMA equivalent of Goldberg wrestling in Saudi Arabia.

Punk came into the fight with much intrigue and hype, with his fantastic documentary The Evolution of Punk airing in the run-up to the fight along with his lengthy lawsuit brought against him by WWE doctor Christopher Amann being dismissed shortly before the event. Punk even came to the Octagon that night with his classic Cult of Personality theme that popped parts of the crowd. Which made it all that more disappointing when Mickey Gall (in his debut fight) overmatched and dominated him, making him submit via a rear naked choke. Even after Gall won the $15,000 bonus for winning, his earnings still paled in comparison to Punk’s, with him coming away with the bonus and $30,000.

The same happened again in Punk’s second fight at UFC 223 against Mike Jackson. Jackson walked out with the victory via Decision but including the winning bonus only took away in the region of $25,000 compared to Punk’s massive $500,000 payday once again.