There is no doubt that current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is one of the most talented fighters in all of mixed martial arts (MMA).
Currently on a nine-fight win streak including seven consecutive title defenses, “Mighty Mouse” has found himself close to the top of the pound-for-pound rankings and is only three more championship wins away from breaking Anderson Silva’s title defense record.
That said, while he currently does have a good salary — $133,000 to show and $58,000 to win per UFC 191 payouts — he isn’t quite making that Conor McGregor-type money.
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Johnson applauded “Notorious” for earning his keep but also insisted that based on his own skill set, he should be making close to the $1 million paydays the fiery Irishman is banking.
He explains:
“First off, shout out to Conor McGregor for being the first fighter in UFC to earn seven figures payout. Yes, I do pay attention to that. I honestly do believe I should be closer just for the skill set I bring into the Octagon. Obviously everybody can look back at UFC 191 and see, that’s one of my goals is to inch closer to bigger paydays. Shout out to Nate Diaz, both of those guys for setting the pedestal for us guys to get paid more. We go out there and work our assess off, and the UFC works its ass off to promote the fight and to try to sell tickets. I think that it’s great those guys are getting paid more, but I would obviously like to see Demetrious Johnson’s 197 payout at $500K, baby. Absolutely.”
Of course, as history and McGregor have proven, it’s not all about fighting skills, but rather how well you can spit verbal fire to promote your fights, which eventually leads to epic pay-per-view (PPV) buys like this one.
And judging by this, Demetrious has a ways to go to reach that level, too.
“Mighty Mouse” revealed he has three fights left on his current contract before he can renegotiate for a bigger payday. And since he has no immediate plans to move up in weight to partake in “super fights” that often bring in more cash, Johnson will have to ride out his current deal before he earns a potential bump.
Johnson will next face Henry Cejudo at UFC 197, which is set to go down on April 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, as co-main event to the heavily-anticipated rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier (full card here).
Which should help boost those PPV buys.