In Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 89 post-fight press conference, Donald Cerrone sent a not-so-subtle jab about his pay.
In response to a question which listed his accolades, Cerrone stated, “According to my pay, I don’t mean sh*t to the UFC. But we’ll see. Maybe I’ll talk to [UFC president] Dana [White] after this and see if we can figure that out.” (via MMA Fighting). Cerrone did make the statement with a smirk and laughed about it. Of course, that does not mean he was kidding.
Cerrone stopped Patrick Cote in the third round of his fight last night which earned him a $50,000 bonus.
In February, Cerrone made $79K/$79K in addition to his $50K bonus, Reeebok payout and any other undisclosed bonuses.
Cerrone donned the Monster logo on his Reebok shorts and cowboy hat which likely means additional compensation added into his purse, win money, bonus and Reebok payout.
Prior to the Reebok deal, Cerrone commented that he would be losing out on $60,000 in outside sponsors. He was fined late last year for violating the Reebok outfitting policy. Cerrone has picked up a Monster deal.
Payout Perspective:
Cerrone is a UFC favorite for his willingness to take a fight at a moment’s notice. Obviously, attaining fight bonuses means that his fighting style is appealing as well. Should he be paid more? Sure. But how much more would the UFC be willing to pay is another question. If he’s in the middle of a contract, it would be hard to renegotiate at this point, but he could receive preferential paid opportunities outside of the Octagon. As we noted, he has been outspoken about losing money from the Reebok deal and then was flagged for violating the terms of the policy. Of course, maybe we are just overblowing the comments from a fighter that is always willing to find a payday.
Because of the possibility of the sale…fighters feel the same as diciples….they took sacrifices.for the sport to grow,and money will be big once they reach the promise land,light at the end of the tunnel now seems only the 3 will benefit from the sale lol….just weeks ago cowboy was debating schaub on reebok…a real company guy indeed
Maybe its me but I really am not overly sympathetic to professional athletes referring to their pay being too small, not enough, etc etc while the vast majority of Americans are working to make ends meet. No one forces pro athletes to go into sports and certainly not into the sports they choose. As as the CEO of the Bubba Gump Shrimp factory says, “that’s all I have to say about that.”
I’m not overly sympathetic to NFL players who turn down $115M because they want $150M. Cerrone is not anywhere near those numbers.
I’m also not overly sympathetic to NFL owners (or fight promoters) who want to keep the bulk of the profits for themselves.
As a fan of MMA then you want guys to make enough money to attract the best in the world to the sport. We’re not seeing that right now. There’s no way anyone with a shot at MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA or even MSL is turning that down to make $25/$25 plus a Reebok bonus in the UFC.
I’m glad Cerrone is pushing for more money. He should get as much as he can. The only one looking after Cerrone is Cerrone. If Dana had his way, he would lower salaries to boost earnings and reach a higher valuation before he cashes out.
So he is making over 200K and he is complaining about pay? He already racked up 400K this year and will probably fight again. Sure he is a good fighter and somewhat recognizable name but he is not putting a whole lot of bums in the seats. If he was headlining a PPV, he’d be lucky to sell 10K buys without the UFC name behind him.