Justin Gaethje is set to serve as one-half of the main event for the first UFC card on Paramount+ but that prestigious honor didn’t come along with a bigger paycheck.
Saturday night’s UFC 324 card kicks off the promotion’s new seven year, $7.7 billion deal to move to Paramount, which features every card for the streaming service — including those numbered events that used to cost $79.99 each on pay-per-view. Numerous fighters previously earned pay-per-view points, which resulted in bigger paydays, but that’s now a thing of the past under the new broadcast deal.
That said, UFC CEO Dana White has promised fighter pay is going to go up under this new deal and even former two-division champion Daniel Cormier claimed “they’re already getting more money” while adding that the promotion has been more than willing to negotiate new terms now that pay-per-view is gone.
But Gaethje says that’s absolutely not the case where he’s involved.
“I hear Daniel Cormier saying everybody is going to get paid more on this card,” Gaethje said during UFC 324 media day. “I’m not getting one dollar more than I would have if this deal did not happen.”
That’s obviously disappointing news for Gaethje, although it’s unclear if he was receiving pay-per-view bonuses in his contract. Typically speaking, UFC champions and some select other athletes have those bonuses included in their contracts and even then pay-per-view sales have to hit a certain threshold before an additional payout is made.
Gaethje also lamented the fact that through 14 appearances in the UFC, he’s received a remarkable 14 post-fight bonuses but that still hasn’t added enough zeroes to his bank account.
“To have 14 bonuses and not equal up to a million dollars is not right,” Gaethje said. “It’s not right. It should be a lot more than that and I should have had opportunities to do smarter things with my money but I don’t and I haven’t.”
Based on Gaethje’s bonus history, he earned 13 bonuses at $50,000 each, which equals out to $650,000 and then he earned $300,000 for his Fight of the Night bonus at UFC 300 when he battled Max Holloway. That totals out to $950,000 — still less than the $1 million mark Gaethje wished he achieved.
That said, Gaethje admits that all the bonus money he did earn has come in handy throughout his career, especially when it comes to taking care of his family.
“I’m happy to achieve what I have achieved,” Gaethje said. “The best thing I did was probably invest in a commercial property. I purchased a house in Arizona that’s like a mile away from my parents. My sister’s renting that from me now. Really just being able to help my family. Help my parents, help my brothers and sisters. Give them Christmas gifts that I would have never been able to give them. Take them on vacations that I never would have been able to.
“That’s the smartest thing I did because you can never get that time back with your family. It’s huge for me.”
