During his return to the DC & Helwani podcast, the newly retired Daniel Cormier stated that Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta gave him $1 million after his loss to Jon Jones. Cormier admitted on the podcast that his family was planing on buying a house when he was fighting as the challenger against Jones. He stated that although he lost the fight, the UFC came through and gave him additional million dollar bonus on top of what he made for fighting Jones. DC also stated that after his fight with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in 2015, the UFC gave him an additional $400,000 on top of his fight salary and PPV bonus for a lump sum of $1 million total. Cormier is now officially retired after his recent loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 252, and has always done his part to be a company man.
The term “company man” has always had a bad image attached to it, but for DC its proof that taking fights on short notice and rarely saying no can lead to a better future and more financial compensation. Although MMA fans love to criticize the UFC for underpaying fighters, you can’t justify that opinion unless you know exactly what the organization is paying. The UFC has a history of paying additional bonuses to fighters that prove their worth. I as a fight fan can’t say the UFC underpays its fighters because 1. I don’t know exactly how much the UFC pays and 2. It’s none of my business how much each individual fighter makes nor is it their responsibility to release that information. Check out the video below and give us your thoughts.
