I agree with Matt. Definitely can see Heath pulling that much.
Thanks, youandme!
tl;dr
[but for those interested in discussing pro earnings]
In an interview during the 2001 Mr. Olympia weekend, Wayne DeMilia stated that Ronnie was making over $1 million at the top, and the top 6-10 were making $150,000 or more.
I think it's safe to say that Mr. Olympia winners have been guaranteed millionaires since the early 2000's, if not the later nineties. Probably since around 2001, when DeMilia made that statement.
If you consider $400,000 in Olympia purse money with the years that Phil [and previously, Jay] got winnings matched by way of their MuscleTech contracts, I would say that making $1 million or more pre-tax is quite realistic.
It's sad that earnings are so top-heavy like that, where the winner makes so much, and people outside the top 6-10 are working full-time jobs. It was almost as bad in the UFC prior to Ronda Rousey, and later Conor McGregor, coming in and bringing the viewing audience [and thus, the prize purses] up substantially.
For example, George St-Pierre's first fight earned him $3,000 to show, and $3,000 to win [def. Karo Parysian], and he earned a total of $200,000 in 2006, when he first became the UFC welterweight champion of the world.
By 2013, his last year pre-comeback with Michael Bisping, GSP only won $400,000 in his win over Johny Hendricks, plus whatever pay-per-view bonus he would have gotten for that fight. GSP made a total of $12 million in the UFC in 2013, which would have been his best year. Here in Canada, half that cash is going to the government. So even GSP, the top star of the UFC at the time, wasn't exactly living large. Brock Lesnar may have made more, but only for a few years...I would have to check the data on Wiki.
Consider that Rory MacDonald was #4 in the world that year, and made something like $160,000, or maybe it was $250,000 with $160,000 in training camp and managerial costs. MacDonald did an interview with London Real saying that he was just about losing money to fight, despite being #4 in the world, which caused him to move to Bellator.
In Canada, I think the top curler here makes $100,000 a year.
Some sports just have smaller audiences, hence smaller prize purses. I suspect the UFC isn't as hot lately with Conor McGregor being inactive, and likely, smaller PPV sales as a result.
I almost feel bad for bodybuilders, strongmen, powerlifters, and even UFC fighters, given how small some of the purses are. It's like to have success you need to be the very best in the world in any of these, and competitors outside the top 10 are making peanuts working full-time as personal trainers, or even selling used posing trunks to
shmoes fans of the
sport industry...
