Demetrious Johnson laments pay received during UFC run: ‘I was just f*cking gutted’

Former undisputed UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson has revealed he crunched the numbers from his gold laden tenure with the Dana White-led promotion, claiming he was “f*cking gutted” to discover how underpaid he was during his time with the organization.

Johnson, a former undisputed flyweight champion and pound-for-pound number one fighter on the promotion’s books, departed the Octagon in a high-profile trad with ONE Championship, with Ben Askren moving the other way to the North American-based promotion back in 2018.

And calling time on his illustrious mixed martial arts career earlier this year, Kentucky native, Johnson — who is regarded as one of the greatest combat fighters of all-time, called time on his career following a trilogy unanimous decision win over Brazilian star, Adriano Moraes to defend the ONE Championship crown back in May of last year.

Demetrious Johnson admits he was “f*cking gutted” by UFC career earnings

Still holding the record for most consecutive title fight victories and defenses under the banner of the UFC with a staggering 11 straight championship defenses, Johnson recently opened up on how underpaid he feels off the back of his tenure in the Octagon — claiming he was “gutted” to learn the figures are breaking down his fights.

“ONE Championship is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Demetrious Johnson told MMA Fighting. “The reason why I say that is on multiple fronts. Obviously the [UFC antitrust] lawsuit just went preliminary [approval] and I remember somebody said you take 23 per cent of whatever you made in the company and that’s what it would be [that you earned].”

“That time frame from 2011 all the way to 2017, I had 17 fights,” Demetrious Johnson explained. “I think 12 of them were world championship fights and five of them weren’t. So I did all the math, I did all that stuff and I was like what the f*ck? That’s all I made? I was in bed last night just doing the math. I was like godd*mn, I’m f*cking gutted. I was just gutted.”

“For being one of the best fighters in the world, at one point in time the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I was like f*ck, godd*mn. “If I would have done NBA, f*cking baseball, it would have been f*cking pennies on the dollar what I made in the UFC.”