UFC athletes have often been empathized with for not being paid what they are owed. However, many forget to realize that athletes are paid for more than their performances inside the Octagon. As such former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson explains and reveals other avenues through which the fighters get paid.
For the most part, we’ve seen and heard about numerous bonuses that fighters receive after a great performance. However, as it turns out, there are other incentives given to fighters for fulfilling media obligations and outfitting requirements during fight week. That said, there are also other ways in which fighters, who are out of action, get paid as well.
According to fighters, there are certain discretionary bonuses, also paid to fighters. Aside from that as Demetrious Johnson has recently revealed, UFC athletes also get paid via the UFC video games. With a long list of titles released over the years, fighters included in the playable roster within the game have seemingly benefitted from it. Whilst the fans have had their qualms about the game itself, the fact that it has allowed athletes to earn money, may slightly ease their discontentment.
Demetrious Johnson explains how fighters are paid via the UFC video games
For the most part, many are probably already aware of Demetrious Johnson and his affinity for video games. Since his partial retirement from the sport or even between training camps, the athlete is known to livestream video games and in general has spent a lot of time playing while growing up. As a result, he was ecstatic at the opportunity of realizing his lifelong dream of being in a video game.
That said, in a recent video, ‘Might Mouse’ further explained how he and other athletes receive a significant amount of money from the UFC video games:
“… You sign off an agreement of your likeness. Now when you sign this likeness agreement, there is no money in it whatsoever. Even at this time, I’m happy that I’m able to be in the video game.
“Now, how do they dictate how much money you’re gonna get paid? I can’t dictate it, you guys actually dictate how much I get paid by how often you guys use me in the game. Now, when you log on to your game, each character you pick it does a little ticker, it sends your data to the big mainframe computer and that’s how they keep track of it.”
“They do it for all the games out there because they want to see what character is being played the most and what game modes they like the most. So they’re always checking your data and keeping all the analytics, and be able to put it together. So that’s how they dictate how much money your boy gets.”
After a quick rundown of the various iterations and versions of the video game series and its different developers, Demetrious Johnson revealed the process behind how EA Sports integrates the athletes into the games. During a fighter summit, all athletes were made to enter a half dome filled with cameras which would then take thousands of pictures, for it to be recreated digitally afterward.
Demetrious Johnson reveals his total earnings from the UFC video games
For long-time followers of the sport, Demetrious Johnson and his disputes with the UFC are no new matter. Despite being the flyweight champion with the most title defenses in UFC history (11), the fighter was underpaid for the majority of his career and finally looked to part ways with the organization in order to make it happen. In an infamous trade, Johnson made his way over to ONE Championship whilst Ben Askren came to the UFC.
Despite it aging horribly for the UFC, Johnson who got the better end of the deal, respects his former organization for allowing him to earn via his likenesses over the years. Considering that he was being paid for not even stepping inside the Octagon, it was a very welcome addition to his pocket. Thus despite not seeing eye to eye with Dana White and co., Demetrious Johnson still managed to make the most of it.
🤯 💰 Demetrious Johnson reveals that he got paid $10,000 for being on the cover of UFC 3 special edition.
Overall, he was paid $72,500 for all UFC games that he ever was involved.
🎥 @MightyMouse pic.twitter.com/HcROmgwDwe
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) May 9, 2024
“Now the very first cheque I got for being in the UFC video game was $25,000. Think about this, $25,000 to just be in a video game.”
“The next one that came out was UFC 3 and for this bad boy, the next cheque that I ended up getting was $12,500. Now, it’s a little bit lower but I was okay with it because the time frame of the cheques were coming every year or quarter. I wasn’t too worried about it. After the Ray Borg fight, they offered me the opportunity to be on the front cover and that’s when they came out with the Icon edition with me on the front.”
As a result of signing an agreement to be on the cover, Demetrious Johnson further received another $10,000. Despite leaving the UFC, Johnson was still included in UFC 4, which saw him receive an additional $25,000. All in all, this brought Mighty’s total earnings from the UFC games up to a very respectable $72,500. Considering his appalling payouts in the UFC, earning from the video games likely helped ease the blow.