Daniel Cormier: Jon Jones deserves better pay from UFC but not Conor McGregor money

Former UFC two-division champion Daniel Cormier believes Jon Jones should be well compensated to fight heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou but not more than the company’s biggest star.

Jones, a former two-time light heavyweight champ, has been in a public spat with the UFC over wanting a new deal to fight Ngannou, but it appears the promotion won’t budge.

According to UFC president Dana White, Jones asked for $30 million, which Jones refuted. Jones said he recently had a conversation with Hunter Campbell, the UFC’s executive vice president and chief business officer, and let him know that anywhere around eight to $10 million would be too low.

But while rival Cormier thinks Jones deserves to get paid, DC believes Jones could be pricing himself out.

“Jon Jones deserves his money,” Cormier said on his “DC & Helwani” ESPN show. “He has done tremendous things in this sport, but is Jon Jones going to have a number so large that it’s unrealistic? That’s the question, because I know that they’re going to pay him.”

Cormier acknowledged that Jones should be in the upper echelon of fighter pay, but he certainly doesn’t think he should be paid the same as the sport’s biggest pay-per-view draw, Conor McGregor. In fact, Cormier used the example of his good friend and teammate, former UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, as the pay scale.

“I think he does deserve a large number,” Cormier said. “If Conor McGregor – and I don’t know what Conor makes, but I heard Conor makes like 15 million to show up and then he gets all the pay-per-view. If Conor makes 15 million to show up, Jones shouldn’t make what Conor McGregor makes. If Conor McGregor makes something in that range, Jones shouldn’t make what Conor McGregor makes. It should be a tier beneath that.

“Does Jon Jones make what Khabib makes? If Khabib makes eight to 10 million, yes. But I don’t believe he should make what Conor McGregor makes. I do believe that Conor McGregor, there should be a difference in the pay scale because of what he has meant to the company. But in the eight-to- 10 million range? I think that works.”

Cormier is adamant that the UFC is willing to pay Jones significantly more than he’s ever made, but it’s just a matter of him accepting. Jones recently parted ways with First Round Management, and the UFC already has moved on to Derrick Lewis, also represented by FRM, though no official announcement has been made yet.

“I believe with 100% certainty they would give him $10 million to show up and fight Francis Ngannou,” Cormier said. “I believe that … and that’s him getting his money because he’s never made $10 million before to show. He said he makes $5 million, right? So if he makes $5 million, then you’re doubling what he makes to go and fight Francis.”

Cormier thinks part of the UFC’s hesitance to pay Jones are his past mishaps with performance enhancing drugs and trouble outside the octagon, which has resulted in him getting stripped of his light heavyweight title more than once.

“We fought on a number of occasions, and every time something happened after,” Cormier said. “What if something happens after? Now you’ve got a vacant heavyweight championship and you pay this guy all this money. That’s the problem, and it’s hard for me to say that because of our history. But it’s like, UFC 214, him and I, he beat me. Take your belt, take your money, go home. But instead, there’s an issue. Now what? You’re just gonna put the belt back on Francis.”