The following is an article from TheStar.com, the online website of the Canadian newspaper "The Toronto Star":

Ultimate fighters hit below the belt UFC fighters are taking a beating while the franchise gets rich off mixed martial arts pay-per-view events Aug. 29, 2006. 06:15 AM NEIL DAVIDSON

The popularity of mixed martial arts fighting is on the rise, as is the money involved in the sport.

But in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which dominates the sport in North America, only the elite fighters appear to reap the financial rewards.

Just ask Toronto police officer Rob MacDonald, who was choked unconscious after two minutes and 26 seconds of the first round Saturday on the undercard of the UFC 62: Liddell vs. Sobral fight card.

MacDonald earned $5,000 (all figures U.S.) and left with $3,500 since  as a foreigner  he had to pay 30 per cent tax.

Saturday's card drew 10,419 to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, for a paid gate of $3,040,880. The UFC does not divulge pay-per-view figures (the card cost $39.99 Canadian to watch north of the border) but MMAWeekly.com, which follows the sport, reported in July that pay-per-view sales for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie generated at least $23.97 million.

That, coupled with a live gate of $2.9 million that night, made the May 27 Matt Hughes-Royce Gracie showdown the UFC's biggest haul with revenue of at least $26.87 million (figures for UFC 61 were not available when MMAWeekly ran its piece).

Contrast those big-ticket figures with what the fighters earned Saturday night.

According to information provided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the UFC paid the 18 fighters on the card a total of $407,000  with $250,000 of that going to light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell for stopping Renato (Babalu) Sobral in 95 seconds.

Usually UFC fighters get a fee for fighting and a bonus if they win. Liddell did not get a win bonus, according to the Athletic Commission records, but he likely will get a lucrative cut of the pay-per-view. The UFC declined comment, saying it does not discuss fighter contracts.

Sobral, meanwhile, earned a modest $21,000 for his troubles. Had he won, he would have picked up another $21,000.

In the co-main event, Forrest Griffin collected $32,000 for his victory over Stephan Bonnar  $16,000 plus a $16,000 win bonus. Bonnar left with $16,000.

Toronto-born middleweight Ivan Salaverry used to fight in the UFC, but now is signed to the fledgling World Fighting Alliance. While crediting the UFC for helping build the sport, he wonders about the discrepancies between UFC purses and revenues.