UFC Heavyweight Timothy Johnson set up a GoFundMe page to assist in bringing two of his cornermen to Brazil for next weekend’s fight against Luis Henrique at UFC Fight Night 125 in Brazil. Fortunately, for the 32-year-old fighter, his needs have been met but his plight presents the issue of dealing with costs and travel for a regular fighter on the card.
Coming off of a loss, Johnson is 3-3 in the UFC. He’s fought in Croatia, Northern Island, England and now Brazil. One of the issues in traveling long distances is that for most fighters, the UFC only pays for one cornerman to come with a fighter. Without the necessary funds from sponsors, Johnson had to ask help from the MMA community.
Fortunately, he was able to surpass the $4,000 he was requesting. One individual donated $3,500. Al Iaquinta provided $50. No verification if that is the UFC fighter or someone using Iaquinta’s name.
Johnson’s only officially reported payout was from his debut fight in April 2015 where he earned $8,000 to show and $8,000 to win. Based on his record of 3-3, he is estimated to move up to $16,000 and $16,000 on the pay scale plus his Reebok payout of $5,000.
You may or may not recall former UFC fighter John Cholish indicate that he actually lost money by fighting in Brazil when he paid for two of his coaches to fly to corner him.
Payout Perspective:
The GoFundMe account is the stark reality of not being Conor McGregor in the UFC. There is a low-to-mid-class fighter that does not have enough funds to pay for travel. At 3-3, this is a big fight for Johnson if he wants to continue on with the company and he probably wants full access from all of his coaches to win. There is the issue of how the coaches will be compensated by Johnson for his travel which will likely come out of his pay for the fight.
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