After solely making $80,000 for his first combat with Jon Jones, UFC CEO Dana White despatched Daniel Cormier a $1 million bonus verify.
Jones vs. Cormier is undoubtedly one of many fiercest rivalries in MMA historical past. Squaring off in opposition to each other on two separate events, the animosity between the consensus GOAT and the previous two-division titleholder stays as robust as ever.
Wanting again on their first-ever assembly at UFC 182 in January 2015, ‘DC’ revealed that he’d solely made a paltry $80,000 to point out. That matched with sponsorship cash earned him roughly 150k for one of many greatest occasions of the 12 months. In line with Tapology, Jones vs. Cormier introduced in 800,000 buys at $59.99. That interprets to roughly $48 million even earlier than you issue the gate and what the promotion took in through sponsorship offers of their very own.
Understandably, Cormier was annoyed with the payday after all of the work he’d put in and the amount of cash the UFC raked it. Fortunately, White was fast to make it proper with ‘DC’ and despatched the Corridor of Famer one million greenback verify the very subsequent day.
“Again in 2015, I fought Jon Jones for the primary time,” Cormier stated on The Pivot. “I used to be making $80,000 to point out up and $80,000 to win. I misplaced. All that, and I made $80,000. And I made like $80,000 on sponsorships on that night time. I used to be like, ‘Man, for all that, I’m gonna make $150,000, it’s loopy.’
“Dana White calls me two days later, ‘Y’all killed it. The numbers had been out of this world; we’re going to ship you $1 million. Dude despatched me a verify for $1 million the following day” (h/t Bloody Elbow).
Daniel Cormier insists fighters are sometimes taken care of behind the scenes
UFC fighter pay has been below scrutiny for years because the group usually shares 15-20% of its whole income with fighters — an particularly low quantity when in comparison with different skilled sports activities organizations just like the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL who often hover round a 50% income share.
Nonetheless, Cormier harassed that fighters usually obtain bonuses behind the scenes that aren’t disclosed to the general public.
“After which, it was Lorenzo Fertitta on the time; he was the proprietor. Lorenzo appreciated his champions making $1 million. So, even when your combat purse was $350,000, and also you offered one other $300,000 in pay-per-views, he’d ship you one other $400,000 to be sure to made $1 million each time you bought in there.”
“So, they attempt to defend the athlete slightly bit by not displaying precisely what you make. Lots of it’s hidden. And also you additionally earn a living on the pay-per-view aspect. So, when you turn into a man like Conor McGregor, like Jones, like Israel Adesanya — you begin promoting pay-per-views, man, you get $2 a purchase, $3 a purchase, $4 a purchase. Then that cash actually begins to go.”
