Losing to Jon Jones has been a sad fate for many fighters since the heavyweight champion joined the UFC 15 years ago. But one of those lucky few got special attention from President Dana White shortly after bowing out in the octagon.
In a world like combat sports, it’s almost inevitable that very strong rivalries will develop over time. On the MMA side and a fortiori the UFC, we can think of two of them who have marked their time. There was of course the one between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, but also the tense relationship between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones during the 2010s.
Both wrestlers by training, the first having even participated in the Athens Olympics in this discipline, they are among the greatest fighters in the history of light heavyweights and have faced each other twice in stormy conditions, since they couldn’t frame themselves. Unfortunately for Cormier, he had to lay down his arms each time, as “Bones” was literally unstoppable in the cage.
Daniel Cormier paid handsomely after his loss to Jon Jones
Aware that the animosity between the two men could make absolutely monumental publicity for the UFC, its president Dana White obviously did everything to ensure that the hype around their clashes was enormous. Enough to go so far as to generously reward DC despite his first defeat against Jones at UFC 182. In any case, this is what the interested party said some time ago:
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Daniel Cormier : In 2015, I faced Jon Jones for the first time and we had promoted this fight really well. I earned 80,000 dollars by participating in the fight and 80,000 dollars more in case of victory. I lost so I left the arena thinking, “All this to win only $80,000? I made just as much money that night thanks to my sponsors.
So in all I had made $150,000. Dana White calls me like two days later. “Hey man, you both rocked. The audience figures were insane”. He said, “We’re going to send you a million dollars.” I swear to God, he told me he would send me a million dollars. He sent me a check for a million dollars the next day, just because I had done a good job.
When we know the reputation of the boss of the UFC, he who is usually very cautious about the idea of paying his fighters (we think in particular of the controversial departure of Francis Ngannou for these same reasons), this may seem surprising. Jon Jones being his darling since his debut in 2009, DW may have been more generous to his opponent. After all, their fight had attracted worldwide attention.
Failing to have been able to win against Jon Jones in 2015 in Las Vegas, Daniel Cormier was able to comfort himself with a solid gold check, a “small” gift from Dana White for his performance. A fairly huge amount for the time, not trivial for athletes who put their health at stake as soon as they enter the cage.
2023-08-03 08:10:00
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