Mixed Martial Arts great Demetrious Johnson recently revealed his crazily low pay whilst he was contracted with the UFC.
As potentially the most talented MMA fighter of all time, you’d expect Demetrious Johnson to have made a pretty penny throughout 11 defences of his UFC belt. Mighty Mouse revealed that was not the case in a recent Twitch stream, though. Johnson says it took 5 UFC title fights for him to break over $100k in show money.
Demetrious Johnson Speaks on His UFC Pay
Twitter user @FightsCameraPod posted a clip from Johnsons stream, in which he was watching a YouTube video on his own UFC career. In the video, DJ said:
“When I fought Dominick Cruz, I was fighting for 14k and 14k… Then I was about to fight Eddie Wineland, but that didn’t go through so I fought Ian McCall in Australia… And then, I got a new contract when I fought Ian McCall for a second time, I think I got bumped up to $20k and $20k.”
“And then I fought Joseph Benavidez and I was still on that $20k and $20k. When I fought John Dodson I made $23k and $23k. When I fought John Moraga it probably went $26k and $26k, and then when it was Joseph Benavidez I think it was like $30k and $30k.”
“And then I finally got a new contract as champion, and I think it was $125k and $50k. But I didn’t get pay-per-view points and that’s where most champions get their bang for their buck, it’s in pay-per-view points.”
Twitter users were shocked, with one labelling it ‘disgusting’:
Demetrious Johnson is often spoken about as one of the most disrespected UFC champions of all time. In 2018, DJ was part of a swap deal between the UFC and ONE FC that saw him traded with welterweight wrestler Ben Askren.
ONE seems to be paying Johnson what he’s worth, though. He reportedly earns around $800k per fight in the promotion.
Would you like to see an increase in UFC champion’s purses?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
