UFC Fight Night 289 produced one of the lightest Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts on the company calendar, with fighters from the Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Raoni Barcelos card combining for $151,000 in event-week payments.
MMA Junkie reported the figure Sunday after the Las Vegas card streamed from Meta APEX on Paramount+. The total is only $14,000 above the lowest UFC compliance figure listed for 2026, and it sits well below the recent pay totals attached to larger numbered events such as UFC 331 and UFC 330.
The timing gives the figure extra context because MiddleEasy has already covered the card from several result lanes, including Rosas stopping Barcelos in the main event, Tina Black winning the TUF 34 strawweight final, and the official UFC Vegas 121 bonus list. This payout story is a different development: it tracks the contractual event-week money tied to the athletes’ UFC experience levels rather than fight purses, bonuses, or undisclosed bout agreements.
$100K each POTN: Luis Hernandez/Yazmin Jauregui
$100K each FOTN: Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Raoni Barcelos
$25K each to the other fighters that got a finish:
Montel Jackson
Elves Brener
Christian Edwards
Brady Hiestand
Tina Black*Post Fight Bonus History:
Raul Rosas…— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 27, 2026
How The UFC Vegas 121 Total Compares
The reported $151,000 total was the second-lowest UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payout of the year. The only lower number on MMA Junkie’s 2026 list was $137,000 for UFC Fight Night 270. UFC Fight Night 281 and UFC Fight Night 272 were each listed at $151,500, leaving the Rosas-Barcelos card just below those events.
By comparison, UFC 331 was listed at $270,500, UFC 330 at $327,000, UFC 329 at $275,000, and UFC 328 at $371,000. Those larger totals reflect cards with more established athletes and title-level placement, while UFC Fight Night 289 included several fighters with fewer UFC appearances and two athletes, Mehemmedeli Osmanli and Ilimbek Akylbek, listed at zero under the program.
The highest individual figures on the UFC Vegas 121 report belonged to Raoni Barcelos and Ricky Simon at $16,000 each. Norma Dumont, Rodolfo Vieira, Montel Jackson and Vanessa Demopoulos were each listed at $11,000. Raul Rosas Jr., Ailin Perez, Sedriques Dumas, Elves Brener, John Castaneda, Heili Alateng and Yazmin Jauregui were listed at $6,000, while Brady Hiestand and Robert Bryczek were listed at $4,500.
What The Compliance Program Covers
The Promotional Guidelines Compliance program replaced the older UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy and covers obligations connected to outfitting, event-week appearances, media duties and fighter-code-of-conduct requirements. It is not a public accounting of a fighter’s purse, win bonus, performance bonus or sponsorship income outside the UFC program.
The program pays athletes through experience tiers based on their total UFC bouts, along with qualifying Zuffa-era WEC and Strikeforce appearances. Fighters with one to three qualifying bouts receive $4,000 per appearance, while athletes with four or five receive $4,500. The next bands rise to $6,000, $11,000, $16,000 and $21,000, with champions and title challengers receiving higher flat amounts.
That tier structure explains why a card can produce an exciting night of results without producing a large compliance total. Newer UFC athletes tend to land near the bottom of the payment scale regardless of where their fights appear on the bout order. APEX cards also often feature prospects, short-notice arrivals and midcard veterans, which can keep the aggregate number low.
Year-To-Date Number Moves Past $7.1 Million
MMA Junkie’s running list put the UFC’s 2026 program-to-date figure at $7,105,500 after UFC Fight Night 289. The outlet listed the program-to-date total across years at $46,223,500, with past annual totals of $8,441,500 in 2025, $8,280,500 in 2024, $8,131,000 in 2023, $8,351,500 in 2022 and $6,167,500 in 2021.
The event total therefore adds a modest line to a much larger yearly ledger. It also underscores the difference between a news-heavy fight night and a compensation-heavy one. UFC Vegas 121 generated a main-event medical storyline, several result angles and bonus winners, but the compliance-pay list shows the roster profile was still closer to a lower-cost Fight Night than a stacked pay-per-view.
For readers following the card, the $151,000 figure is best understood as one more piece of the event record. It does not reveal complete fighter compensation, but it does show how the UFC’s public compliance scale treated the athletes who competed on the Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos lineup.
