Demetrious Johnson blasts Dana White's alleged lies about PPV points, draws shocking comparison with CM Punk's pay
Demetrious Johnson is widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time so fans were shocked when the UFC traded him to ONE Championship for Ben Askren in 2018 in the first major trade in the history of the sport. 'Mighty Mouse' recently revealed what led to his departure while calling out UFC President and CEO Dana White.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the ONE Championship flyweight champion stated:
"They specifically said, 'we do not give pay-per-view points to flyweight guys, but if you're a lightweight or you're a welterweight, middleweight, heavyweight, I've been told that once they became champion, they got $500,000 flat and it went straight in their contract that they got pay-per-view points every single time."
He added:
"For me, it was never that. If I would've got pay-per-view points every single time I defended my belt, 11 consecutive title defenses, you put me on three Conor McGregor cards, yeah."
Johnson then reacted to a clip of White claiming that he wanted money up front rather than pay-per-view points, noting:
"When Dana White says I didn't want pay-per-view points, that's not true. I asked for pay-per-view points... [Going to ONE] was the best decision I have ever made in my whole entire career. If I could do it again, I would do it ten times again... Let's look at CM Punk. This guy comes in and gets a base salary of $500,000. There were also potential pay-per-view bonuses and other financial incentives included in his contract. I had to defend the f**king belt [11] times and I couldn't even get this."
Check out Demetrious Johnson's comments on his UFC departure below:
Johnson noted that he has no hard feelings towards White as he is happy and successful. Despite this, it is still shocking that one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time was paid less than a fighter making their debut.
Tyron Woodley previously revealed clashing with UFC over Demetrious Johnson's pay
Demetrious Johnson is not the only fighter who felt underpaid and undervalued on the UFC roster. Tyron Woodley recently appeared on the MightyCast podcast, where the former welterweight champion revealed that he fought for 'Mighty Mouse' to receive a pay raise, stating:
"I argued with them [UFC] over you a couple times... You got DJ who got [11] titles, but you going to pay ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone the same as him? Cowboy was making [$350,000]. He never touched gold ever. So, your reason behind him making $350,000 per fight is that he never complains, he takes any fight that you offer him, he’ll even fight injured, he’ll even fight last-minute notice. That don’t work for me."
Check out Tyron Woodley's comments on Demetrious Johnson's pay below (starting at the 37:59 mark):
Johnson noted that the promotion's pay structure defeats the purpose of capturing the title. The UFC recently reached a $335 million settlement with fighters for violating antitrust laws.