UFC Denies Withholding Anderson Silva’s payment

Yesterday news surfaced that the UFC had been withholding a $6 Million payment to Anderson Silva in U.S. Dollars as a result of his failed drug test from UFC 183 (See that HERE)

This outraged many fans, who felt the UFC should also have withheld Jon Jones earnings from UFC 182, where Jones tested positive for the main metabolite in cocaine in a random pre-fight drug test leading up to the bout.

The UFC is now speaking out in regards to the news that they are withholding Silva’s payment until an NSAC hearing on February 17th.

In a statement to MMAJunkie, the UFC stated:

“The financial reports made by Veja.com are not true.”

The NSAC guidelines for payment also state that the commission can only withhold a fighter’s salary, and not additional payments such as their cut of the PPV sales. In Silva’s case, his cut of the PPV sales was roughly $5.2 million, whereas his salary for the fight was $800,000.