3. Ken Shamrock
(Career Disclosed Earnings: $500,000)
Ken Shamrock, who competed at the very first UFC, has not made as much from all of his fights combined, as CM Punk did in his 1 UFC fight. Most likely, Shamrock has topped Punk via sponsorships, seminars, or other MMA related work, but not in terms of fighters purse. Not great when one of the pioneers of your sport isn’t paid as well as a guy in his first ever pro-bout.
Shamrock made more from his embarrassing senior’s circuit fights of his later career than he did in his earlier career. Considering the impact his early career had vs his later career, that doesn’t seem quite fair.
Shamrock also left the sport for 4 years to wrestle in WWE, and when he came back he had trouble competing with the elite.
