ONE Championship: Demetrious Johnson reveals his low UFC fighter pay that caused ‘chip on my shoulder’
- ‘Mighty Mouse’ says he didn’t get a champion’s contract with UFC until his fourth title defence – and was still denied PPV points
- ‘I’m going on my seventh or eighth title defence, you got CM Punk over here making 500 bones,’ Johnson recalls
Many MMA fans were surprised when Demetrious Johnson left the UFC for ONE Championship in late 2018 – but the legendary “Mighty Mouse” has revealed the low fighter pay that gave him a “chip on my shoulder”.
Johnson had just lost the UFC flyweight title to Henry Cejudo in a razor-close split decision, ending a record streak of 11 consecutive title defences.
But his frustration with the promotion had been building for a long time, rooted in what he saw as him being lowballed by the organisation.
“When I fought Dominick Cruz, I was under contract, I think I was fighting for 14/14 [US$14,000 to show, US$14,000 to win],” 36-year-old American Johnson, now ONE’s flyweight MMA champion, said during a recent stream on his Twitch channel, Mighty Gaming.
“So when I lost to Dominick I made US$14k, then I was about to fight Eddie Wineland. That didn’t go through, so I fought Ian McCall in Australia, and I was still on the same contract. Then I got a new contract when I fought Ian McCall the second time, I think I got up to 20/20.”