In 2018, fans were dumbfounded by the UFC’s decision to trade Demetrious Johnson ONE Championship for Ben Askren. “Mighty Mouse” had quietly been building his case for being the P4P GOAT, racking up win after win in the UFC’s flyweight division. However, this dominance was one of the reasons that the rug was pulled out from under him.
By the time he left, Johnson managed to rack up 11 consecutive defenses of his flyweight title. However, the pay Demetrious received did not in any way reflect his status as one of the UFC’s best fighters and longest-reigning champions. “Mighty Mouse” revealed that the UFC’s abysmal pay gave him a “chip on my shoulder.”
Speaking about his pay, DJ said, “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].” He continued, “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 bumped up to 20/20.”
Morning Report: Demetrious Johnson reveals shockingly low pay when he was UFC flyweight champion https://t.co/LAJHXsatmp pic.twitter.com/ipK1mt4uNF
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) January 19, 2023
DJ revealed that even when he finally got a champion’s contract, things didn’t improve as much as he wanted them to.
He said, “That’s where champions make the most bang for their buck, pay-per-view points…I never got to do that. So when they tried to stiff-arm me to fight TJ Dillashaw, I said yeah, pay me a f****** million dollars… I’m going on my seventh or eighth title defense. You got f****** CM Punk over here making 500 bones. And it’s his second fight in the UFC.”
Clearly, DJ didn’t receive the money he deserved as one of the UFC’s most dominant champions ever. This spurred him to ask for his trade to ONE where he fights to this day. But fans thought at the moment that Dana White and co. had the ability to do better.
How much does Demetrious Johnson make as the ONE Championship bantamweight champion?
Mighty Mouse reportedly has a multi-million dollar contract in place with his latest employer, ONE Championship. He explained how ONE pays its fighters on the Joe Rogan Experience in great detail. Judging from Johnson’s own words and reports from several sources, his move to ONE led to a massive increase in pay for the flyweight GOAT.
Demetrious Johnson believes that while multiple parties benefitted from the trade that sent him to ONE Championship and Ben Askren to the UFC, the Asian promotion got the better end of the deal because he’s still fighting while Askren has retired already. Do you agree? 🤔 #MMA pic.twitter.com/ioN8ZqERJe
— Sportskeeda MMA (@sportskeedaMMA) September 16, 2022
Demetrious Johnson earns around $750,000 as his base pay every time he fights under the ONE banner. Additionally, he earns another $40,000 from sponsorship money. So far DJ has made around $790,000 in total for each one of his fights in ONE. The aforementioned figure is almost double Johnson’s base pay as the UFC flyweight champion.
He earned $380,000 for his fight against Henry Cejudo at UFC 227. While he did receive PPV points for that fight, even combining those earnings and a performance bonus only puts his biggest UFC payday at $570,000. Clearly, the move to ONE Championship was the best move for Demetrious Johnson’s career.
