Cormier signs new fight deal with UFC

MMA Junkie reports that Daniel Cormier has signed an 8 fight deal with the UFC.

According to the article, he had 4 fights left on his previous deal.  The report also states that “there wasn’t much in the way of negotiating the new one.”  Cormier indicated he got what he wanted but did not disclose the details of the current contract.

Cormier, 36, successfully defended his light heavyweight championship against Alexander Gustafsson in September.  Initial reports state that UFC 192 headlining Cormier drew 250,000 PPV buys.

Cormier is set for a rematch with the returning Jon Jones sometime in 2016.  The Junkie article also indicates that Ryan Bader is also on Cormier’s list of opponents assuming he can get past Jones.

Cormier bristled at a showdown with Jones in New York’s Madison Square Garden (if the preliminary injunction in the UFC lawsuit there is granted) this April.

Payout Perspective:

Maybe the cynic in me recoils when I hear there “wasn’t much in the way of negotiating” with Cormier’s new deal.  Perhaps Cormier was not expecting a contract and the terms offered the security he wanted at this point of his career.  At 36 years old, Cormier has maybe one or two more years left of high level MMA left.  One would think that his contract also includes incentives.  If one of those is a PPV cut, I do not know how much more he’d make if his opponent is not named Jon Jones.  What the 8 fight deal does for the UFC is keep Cormier away from Bellator for a while.  Despite his advanced age, one need only look what Scott Coker and Bellator has done with the likes of Kimbo Slice, Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz to know that he is still a valuable asset for an MMA organization.