Donald Cerrone didn’t make millions for the biggest fight of his career, and Jake Paul wants to know why.
In a clip from a recent interview “Cowboy” did with the Rodeo Time podcast, the UFC Hall of Famer shot down the notion that he received a massive payday for his fight with Conor McGregor, which took place at UFC 246 in January 2020. The bout marked McGregor’s return to MMA competition after a 15-month layoff and “The Notorious” claimed he would make at least $80 million for the fight, which he went on to win by knockout in just 40 seconds.
As Cerrone has mentioned several times in the past, he is not in the habit of negotiating for more pay outside of his existing contract, and he was reportedly guaranteed $200,000 to show with an additional $200,000 added if he were to defeat McGregor. It is not known if Cerrone received any bonuses for the fight, though by his own account that sounds doubtful.
Paul, a noted adversary of UFC CEO Dana White when it comes to the topic of fighter pay, tweeted out a call to arms in response to the UFC 246 wage disparity.
Fighters need to wake up. Cowboy is a legend. Put in years and years of work. Massive name & veteran for MMA. That event probably did $80M in revenue. https://t.co/ldkjcgjF7t
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) February 23, 2024
“Fighters need to wake up,” Paul wrote. “Cowboy is a legend. Put in years and years of work. Massive name and veteran for MMA. That event probably did $80M in revenue.”
This isn’t the first time that Paul has stepped forward to criticize UFC fighter pay. Paul has frequently touted his boxing matchups with former UFC stars Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley, and Ben Askren, as being massively lucrative for the MMA fighters, and the PFL signee recently said he believes that White is “concerned” with the competition following the league’s merge with Bellator this past December.
Cerrone retired from MMA following a loss to Jim Miller in July 2022, ending his illustrious career on seven-fight winless streak. On the podcast, he estimated that he made around “$10 million” in his fighting career and that he was satisfied with his earnings.
See Cerrone’s comments from Rodeo Time below:
“Kudos to Conor. What a good dude and what a name to make for yourself, that’s what I’m talking about. The well-oiled machine, he deserves $100 million, he went out there and did that. Good for you.
“Everyone thinks I got super paid on that. I did not. You’re contracted, you have a contract, it’s what it is. ... I would always sign — which is unheard of — eight-fight deals. Most people do one, two, three, but I knew I wanted to fight eight times a year, so an eight-fight deal for me was a year, half a year. So I was on those eight-fight deals, I’m locked into that. It’s not like, three fights in I can be like, ‘Time to renegotiate because I’m fighting Conor.’ No. You still have four more fights on your contract, this is what you’re getting paid.
“So everyone was like, ‘Red panty night, you got paid.’ No, I didn’t. I got paid what I always got paid, which is good. I ain’t complaining. I’m not making s*** up saying, ‘Dana, he owes me money.’ I made great money.”
“In my career I made $10 million. I’m good.”
