UFC champion Hughes earns $130,000 for tough title defense against B.J. Penn

19:15:14 EDT Oct 3, 2006 Canadian Press: NEIL DAVIDSON

(CP) - UFC champion Matt Hughes earned US$130,000 for his successful welterweight title defense against B.J. Penn at UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn in Anaheim, according to the California State Athletic Commission.

Half of that was in the form of a win bonus for the 32-year-old from Hillsboro, Ill., who raised his record to 41-4-0 with a third-round TKO over Penn. The Hawaiian challenger earned $50,000.

Hughes, who said prior to the fight he had no complaints about his UFC paydays, earned $110,000 for his last title defense. Light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell, the UFC's marquee name, collected $275,000 for his title defense against Renato (Babalu) Sobral at UFC 62 in Las Vegas in August.

The Sept. 23 Hughes-Penn card drew 9,300 to the Honda Center, formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond, for a gate of $1,496,067, according to the California commission.

The UFC does not provide sales figures on its lucrative pay-per-view audience. The Hughes-Penn card cost C$39.99 to see in Canada.

According to figures supplied by the commission, the 18 fighters on the card earned a combined US$332,000.

Montreal middleweight David (The Crow) Loiseau picked up $9,000 in losing to Mike (Quick) Swick, who earned $14,000.

Former lightweight champion Jens (Little Evil) Pulver took home $30,000 for his upset loss to Joe Lauzon, who made $6,000. Rashad Evans' win over Jason Lambert was worth $24,000, compared to $9,000 for the loser.

Paycheques for the other fighters were $10,000 or less.