The UFC Won’t Show Jon Jones The Money

All signs are pointing towards the UFC refusing to pay Jon Jones enough to fight Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title. Here’s why.

It didn’t take more than a minute before the UFC commentary booth switched from marveling over Francis Ngannou’s dominating KO win over Stipe Miocic to talking about who would face him next. Daniel Cormier, possibly rubbing his hands together like that guy in the meme, insisted the only fight to make was Ngannou vs. Jones. And we’d say he’s right … if you live in a world where the UFC still puts together the biggest fights that the fans want.

Unfortunately, the UFC is a business first and foremost, and part of the business model that makes them so successful is that they have depressed fighter pay down to 19.5% of gross revenue. This is an undeniable fact, one revealed during the UFC antitrust monopsony lawsuit that has been winding its way through the courts since 2014.

When Dana White and Jon Jones last tussled over money (a fight that resulted in the GOAT contender and best light heavyweight champion in the world walking away from his belt), White claimed Jones was asking for ‘Deontay Wilder money,’ which would be somewhere in the ballpark of $30 million for a big fight like Wilder vs Fury 2 that sold 800,000 PPVs. Jones denied he was asking for that amount, but given the number of PPVs he’s sold (his two fights with Daniel Cormier sold similar numbers to Wilder / Fury 2), would it be so crazy for him to make Deontay Wilder money off a Francis Ngannou fight?

Detailed breakdowns of fighter pay based on numbers from the UFC antitrust lawsuit have Jones generating an additional $50.8 million in revenue for the UFC in his fights with Daniel Cormier. His pay with all bonuses taken into account? No more than $6 million per fight, and probably less.

Jon Jones has been headlining UFC events for 10 years – 15 fights thus far. He’s made the UFC tons of money, something that is often overlooked because he’s been a problem child along the way as well. But let’s be clear, the UFC wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble they have over the years — covering for his bad behavior, fighting USADA suspensions, moving events from Las Vegas to California — if they weren’t making tons of money off the “Bones” business.

Dana White is willing to play six figure blackjack hands and bet two million dollars on Ben Askren beating Jake Paul, but he will not pay Jon Jones $10 million dollars to fight Francis Ngannou. The only fighter making that kind of money in the UFC is Conor McGregor, and we could argue that the main reason White remains boss of the UFC is to keep the doors to the 8 figure fight realm firmly shut behind McGregor. Never mind the fact that there are more and more individual fighters and fights that are generating massive PPV buys for the UFC (and ESPN+ subscription sales for Disney). The pay structure will remain the same. Top fighters not named Conor McGregor are stuck around the $5 million mark if they’re lucky.

In a world where the UFC was a benevolent force, you’d think a big payment for a big fight like Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones would make sense. It’s a guaranteed record breaker, possibly the biggest fight of the year even with Conor McGregor champing at the bit for multiple 2021 fights. But we’re talking about a company that still refuses to pay Nate Diaz enough to fight again. That’s Nate Diaz, who was in three of the biggest UFC events of all time. Nate Diaz, whom the UFC criminally underpaid for years as he headlined important major network broadcasts. There’s simply no consideration for dues paid, no respect for sweat and blood spilled building up to massive events.

If Ngannou vs. Jones doesn’t happen, it’s because greed has once again gotten in the way of great fights being made. Even Ngannou vs. Derrick Lewis would be a pale shadow of the fight we’re supposed to see, the Zhang vs. Esparza that Dana White threatened we’d get if Rose Namajunas ‘didn’t really want to fight for the title.’ Anyone paying attention should see through these lines, yet there’s never any push back during press conferences when Dana White says these things. No ‘Does Jon Jones not deserve to get paid more for moving up in weight to fight Francis Ngannou?’

All this takes place as UFC owner Endeavor is set to buy out its minority stakeholders for billions of dollars. The UFC’s value continues to rise, from the $4 billion they sold for in 2016 to over $12 billion now. Out of Endeavor’s extremely diversified sets of assets, it’s the UFC that has accounted for over 60% of the parent company’s profits. As Endeavor once again attempts to issue a public IPO that will generate massive amounts of money, they cannot signal that there may possibly be a change in the UFC business model. And that involves killing a Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou fight in its crib, oh well. Because other fighters even sniffing at the potential of making over $10 million on a single fight is too much money out of the higher ups’ pockets.