Demetrious Johnson has to be one of the most disrespected UFC champions of all-time.
During his reign as champion he held the UFC flyweight title for nearly six years.
Johnson recently revealed that when CM Punk fought in the UFC he instantly got paid more money than him.
“This guy comes in and gets a base salary of f–king $500,000, “There were also potential pay-per-view bonuses and other financial incentives in his contract. I had to defend the belt eight f–king times, and I didn’t get this.”
“I fought and fought and fought, They specifically said, ‘We do not give pay-per-view points to flyweight guys,’ I went through my whole contract as a champion, I got to renegotiate, I wanted pay-per-view points, they said, ‘We don’t give it to you guys, and that’s where I went 125 and 50. Went on another streak, and I fought Henry Cejudo. After I knocked out Henry Cejudo, they gave me $350,000 guaranteed, go up every 10,000 as an escalator. Then, finally, they put in my contract when I would break the record, or when I fight Henry Cejudo, they would give me pay-per-view points just for that one fight.”
Eventually Johnson lost the belt to Cejudo and the UFC traded him to ONE FC for Ben Askren which has been called one of the worst trades in sports history.
Unfortunately Johnson may have been ahead of his time and would have likely made more money if he had fought in today’s era of UFC.
