Demetrious Johnson is opening up about the tough contract negotiations he had with UFC CEO Dana White.
The former UFC flyweight champion, who is the current ONE Championship flyweight champion, is sharing his futile quest to secure pay-per-view points during his tenure with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Johnson (25-4 MMA) became the UFC’s very first flyweight champion and defended his belt a very impressive 11 times between 2012 and 2018.
Quite the accomplishment, but Johnson is letting it be known that even with all the success he gleamed, he had a hard time securing PPV points, unlike other UFC champions.
Johnson, in a YouTube video spoke about the UFC promotion and contract talks:
“I fought and fought and fought, they specifically said we do not give pay-per-view points to flyweight guys. They said that to me, and that’s why I took the $125,000 (to show) and $50,000 (to win contract) after I beat Joseph Benavidez in (2013) the second time, when I knocked him out.”
Continuing ‘Mighty Mouse’ said:
“I went through my whole contract as champion. I got to re-negotiate, ‘I want pay-per-view points,’ (Dana White) says, ‘We don’t give it to you guys.’”
Speaking about media exposure, the 37 year old shared:
“I had a lot of amazing things in my career, it’s true. But, it never really did translate over into the mainstream media. I was on the top best plays on ESPN. I saw ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley on ESPN this morning at the gym. I had the same type of media exposure, but it just didn’t translate over to the PPV buys. I don’t know why it never did, but it’s always something we’ll be wondering why it didn’t.”
“You don’t want to bury the champion after he’s trying to defend his belt and build his star. If the CEO of the company is bashing one of the champions, the fans — if Dana White says Bud Light’s delicious, everyone and their mom is gonna think Bud Light is delicious. I’m just saying whatever the CEO says about the athletes and the company, people are going to believe it who aren’t educated.”
Johnson eventually did get a one-time PPV point deal when he fought and lost to Henry Cejudo (16-4 MMA) in 2018 at UFC 227.
Concluding, Demetrious Johnson advised he’s happy and he doesn’t hold a grudge against Dana White (h/t MMAMania):
“Here’s the thing: I have nothing against Dana White. I am a man who’s happy, I’ve been successful, I believe in my skillset, I believe I am one of the best flyweights to ever walk the earth and I don’t think there’ll be another person who can achieve what I have in the flyweight division. North America, Asia, anywhere. I feel confident saying that, and I’m happy to say it.”
Since joining ONE Championship, Johnson has 5 wins and only 1 loss in the cage.
What are your thoughts on Johnson’s quest to attain PPV points in the UFC featherweight division?
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