"It sets the bar for everybody else" - Frank Mir explains the importance of Jon Jones demanding more money to fight Francis Ngannou
Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir concurs with Jon Jones' demand for a bigger payout to fight Francis Ngannou.
The former light heavyweight champion has been adamant about the UFC compensating him fairly for the speculated leap to heavyweight. Frank Mir believes the former light heavyweight champion's bid for a better payday will set in motion a positive ripple effect on the fighter's pay in the UFC.
In an interview with SCMP MMA, Frank Mir talked about how other fighters will benefit from Jon Jones' recent negotiations with the UFC.
"It sets the bar for everybody else and that's why they're fighting so hard. If they would let Jon make the money, they didn't have to disclose it to anybody. They [UFC] will probably go ahead and pay him the money; it would be worth it... but whenever you do that, you set precedence...
So, when Jon sits there and points out the amount of pay-per-view buys he is going to able to pull up, he deserves to get paid more money. He is the king of MMA. But if they do so, it raises everybody's price. And that's what the UFC is afraid of. They've kept people down. They still keep ninety percent of what (fighters) make", said Frank Mir.
Frank Mir alludes to his fight with Brock Lesnar to advocate better fighter paydays
Over the course of his UFC career, Frank Mir was involved in some of the most remarkable Octagon battles. Mir also had a flaming rivalry with WWE superstar Brock Lesnar.
But despite having fought one of UFC's biggest cash-cows (in terms of pay-per-views sold), Frank Mir did not take home a hefty paycheck. Mir vs. Lesnar (UFC 81) surpassed Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury in pay-per-view buys. The former world champion claims the promotion took away a big chunk of the earned revenue.
When Deontay Wilder fought Tyson Fury, I saw the PPV buys that came out. Well, me and Brock Lesnar, we broke those pay-per-view buys. We sold more PPVs than they did. Me and Brock's money put together, wasn't even a tenth of what Wilder made... we barely made 3 million dollars combined. The pay-per-view was cheaper? No. [The UFC] got a bigger share", added Frank Mir.