Daniel Cormier believes Jon Jones might need to accept a bit of bit lower than he’s anticipating to be paid for a much-anticipated grudge match with Tom Aspinall.
Jones and Aspinall have been locked into struggle rumors for over a yr now, with Jones holding the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight title and Aspinall reigning as interim champion. This tough state of affairs developed in November 2023, when Aspinall was booked to struggle Sergei Pavlovich for the interim belt at UFC 295 after an harm brought about the postponement of Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, which ultimately happened at UFC 309.
Loads of public negotiations have occurred between the 2, with Jones stating flatly that he desires “f*ck you cash” to face Aspinall, who Jones has persistently dismissed as a worthy challenger regardless of the British star’s 8-1 UFC document. Commentator Joe Rogan not too long ago talked about on his podcast that he heard Jones is asking for $30 million to struggle Aspinall, a rumor that Cormier addressed on a latest podcast.
Cormier pointed to the introduced $16 million Madison Sq. Backyard gate of UFC 309 as justification for Jones’ demand, even when he thinks the precise payday may fall in need of that mark.
“Now while you begin it like that, you begin going, I don’t know if his ask is as loopy as individuals are saying,” Cormier mentioned on his YouTube. “You are able to do 16 mil on the gate, you are able to do no matter you do on pay-per-view, you’ve acquired sponsorships for the struggle night time, these aren’t yours, you’re bringing them on, however there are sponsors on struggle night time, now that ask will not be so loopy.
“Rogan thinks the UFC pays the $30 million to get Jon Jones in there with Tom Aspinall. I’m unsure he will get to 30, however in the event you ask for 30 and also you get 20 otherwise you get 15, that’s a win for Jon Jones on his means out. Particularly dwelling in Albuquerque, the place all the pieces is so dang low cost, he’s not dwelling in California.”
As a degree of comparability, Cormier used UFC megastar Conor McGregor to point out how far Jones has to go by way of field workplace relevance. Although Jones has a case to be thought of the best pound-for-pound fighter of all time, he nonetheless has a fraction of the drawing energy of McGregor, who has headlined a number of of the highest-grossing pay-per-views in fight sports activities historical past.
“Conor McGregor comes again to struggle and goes, ‘I need $30 million to struggle,” the UFC considers it,” Cormier mentioned. “Why? As a result of when Conor McGregor was scheduled to struggle at Worldwide Combat Week, the gate was $22 million. Sustainable enterprise. You’ve acquired to have the ability to maintain your online business in the event you’re going to be paying these sorts of numbers.
“Conor makes $22 million on the gate, Conor has sponsorships, Conor positively sells 1,000,000 and a half, two million pay-per-views, you’ll be able to nearly perceive Conor McGregor saying ‘Give me $30 million’ and why it would occur. I don’t know if Jones does that.”
Cormier nonetheless thinks Jones will likely be happy ought to he ultimately signal on the dotted line to struggle Aspinall. As irritating as Jones’ refusal to acknowledge the interim champion as his subsequent challenger has been for media and followers, his perspective has arguably constructed up much more curiosity within the struggle, whether or not it’s to see Jones assert himself because the true king of the heavyweight division or if Aspinall may develop into the primary fighter handy Jones a real defeat.
It’s this lengthy recreation that Cormier feels he has to offer Jones credit score for.
“Jones mentioned, ‘I ain’t doing it,’ so then it made folks go, ‘I need this. I need this,’ Cormier mentioned. “And while you need one thing—particularly you, the fan, since you drive all the pieces—while you need one thing unhealthy, the UFC tends to make it occur. Will it make it occur to the tune of 30 mil, I don’t know. I wouldn’t say that it could occur, however what I do know is they are going to be way more prepared to have the dialog.
“So for on a regular basis all people has mentioned how horrible Jones is, ‘He’s silly, he’s an fool,’ me being on the lead of this, very sensible in the way in which that he’s approached this particularly if he wins. Think about if what occurs to combined martial arts if Jon Jones beats Tom Aspinall after Tom Aspinall being the man that everyone thought may beat him. You’ve acquired Tom Aspinalld oing what he’s finished to the heavyweight division. Think about if [Jones] wins. Think about the place he’ll discover himself in by way of negotiating energy then.
In Cormier’s prime, he additionally reigned as a two-division champion at heavyweight and light-weight heavyweight. And whereas he was blissful together with his pay, he says it was nowhere close to what Jones is allegedly asking for.
Even contemplating that fighters are possible paid extra now than when Cormier was competing, he nonetheless expects Jones and his staff to should hustle for an eight-figure payday.
“I’ll let you know guys proper now as an individual that has been concerned in massive fights, an individual that has bought pay-per-views, an individual that at his time was on the prime of the pay scale within the UFC because the heavyweight and light-weight heavyweight champion, $30 million was actually a world away from something we have been making,” Cormier mentioned. “I bear in mind once I acquired paid in New York, I acquired a giant bump to take a struggle on three weeks’ discover, which in the end turned my wage, and other people have been astounded with the quantity. However I’ll let you know, it was a fraction of what that quantity that he’s asking for is. It was nowhere close to that.”
