Getty Jessica Andrade prepares for the round to begin before facing Joanne Calderwood during the UFC 203 event at Quicken Loans Arena on September 10, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade are making history tonight. For the first time in UFC history, a women’s strawweight title bout will serve as the main event of a pay-per-view card on Saturday.
After 13 months off and training, Namajunas defends her 115-pound title against 19-6 Jessica Andrade in her backyard of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Both Brazilians have a similar fighting history as of late, as OddsShark writes:
“Thug Rose” (8-3) last lost to Karolina Kowalkiewicz in July 2016 by unanimous decision. Andrade (19-6) beat Kowalkiewicz last September by first-round knockout. Namajunas owns a 2015 win over Angela Hill by first-round submission. Andrade beat Hill in 2017 by unanimous decision. Finally, Namajunas won the belt with a first-round TKO of Joanna Jedrzejczyk in November 2017 and defended it with a unanimous decision win over Jedrzejczyk last April. Andrade lost to Jedrzejczyk at UFC 211 by unanimous decision.
With such a big decision, what kind of money could be expected of the two after tonight? Let’s take a stab at the possibilities.
Namajunas vs. Andrade Estimated Payday for UFC 237
#UFC237 #RoseNamajunas vs #JessicaAndrade who wins?
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Once official gate numbers roll in, the prize money typically gets disclosed for all of the UFC fights, particularly the headline ones. With that said, they are a couple baselines and precedents to work with to understand what Namajunas and Andrade should expect to be paid.
The last time two women headlined a UFC event was 224 (UFC 230 saw last-minute changes that bumped up Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis). The headliners at 224 were Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington, who according to Sports Daily earned approximately $260k and $130k, respectively.
That fight had a little bit more public interest in it due to the historic nature of Pennington and Nunes being the first all-queer headliners for a UFC event. However, UFC 237 has two Brazilian fighters (one also LGBT) headlining a match in Brazil, so the gate could skyrocket as a result of potentially high attendance.
Andrade and Namajunas have seen 6-figure payouts before. Andrade’s biggest to this date was a $164k at her UFC 228 victory over Kowalkiewicz. Namajunas tallied $240k at her UFC 223 win over Jedrzejczyk last April.
This speaks to the fact that Andrade and Namajunas should see similar payouts, if not higher due to high attendance, than Pennington and Nunes. It’s worth noting that these earnings by Sports Daily are unofficial. Their last officially disclosed prize winnings as described by Forbes are:
Recent Pay:
Namajunas’ most recent disclosed pay was $46,000 for her UFC 201 loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. She has fought three times since that setback and gone 3-0. Two of those bouts were title fight victories.
Andrade’s most recent disclosed payday was $96,000 ($48,000/$48,000) for her decision win over Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 28. She has fought once since then. Andrade won that fight by knockout.
Fight Night Bonuses:
Namajunas has won three fight-night bonus awards for a total of $150,000.
Andrade has won four fight-night bonus awards for a total of $200,000.
With this in mind, the estimate here is $300k for the winner and $150k for the loser. This article will be updated once the gate is official and estimates can be made even more precise.