Daniel Cormier believes Jon Jones may need to accept just a little 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 battle rumors for over a 12 months now, with Jones holding the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight title and Aspinall reigning as interim champion. This difficult state of affairs developed in November 2023, when Aspinall was booked to battle Sergei Pavlovich for the interim belt at UFC 295 after an damage brought about the postponement of Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, which finally came about at UFC 309.
Loads of public negotiations have occurred between the 2, with Jones stating flatly that he needs “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 lately talked about on his podcast that he heard Jones is asking for $30 million to battle Aspinall, a rumor that Cormier addressed on a current 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 taking a look at it like that, you begin going, I don’t know if his ask is as loopy as persons are saying,” Cormier stated 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 battle night time, these aren’t yours, you’re bringing them on, however there are sponsors on battle night time, now that ask will not be so loopy.
“Rogan thinks the UFC can pay the $30 million to get Jon Jones in there with Tom Aspinall. I’m undecided 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 residing in Albuquerque, the place every little thing is so dang low cost, he’s not residing in California.”
As a degree of comparability, Cormier used UFC megastar Conor McGregor to point out how far Jones has to go when it comes to 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 battle and goes, ‘I need $30 million to battle,” the UFC considers it,” Cormier stated. “Why? As a result of when Conor McGregor was scheduled to battle at Worldwide Combat Week, the gate was $22 million. Sustainable enterprise. You’ve acquired to have the ability to maintain what you are promoting in the event you’re going to be paying these sorts of numbers.
“Conor makes $22 million on the gate, Conor has sponsorships, Conor undoubtedly sells one million and a half, two million pay-per-views, you’ll be able to virtually 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 can be happy ought to he finally signal on the dotted line to battle Aspinall. As irritating as Jones’ refusal to acknowledge the interim champion as his subsequent challenger has been for media and followers, his angle has arguably constructed up much more curiosity within the battle, whether or not it’s to see Jones assert himself because the true king of the heavyweight division or if Aspinall may turn into the primary fighter at hand Jones a real defeat.
It’s this lengthy recreation that Cormier feels he has to present Jones credit score for.
“Jones stated, ‘I ain’t doing it,’ so then it made folks go, ‘I need this. I need this,’ Cormier stated. “And while you need one thing—particularly you, the fan, since you drive every little thing—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 will occur, however what I do know is they are going to be much more prepared to have the dialog.
“So for on a regular basis everyone has stated how horrible Jones is, ‘He’s silly, he’s an fool,’ me being on the lead of this, very good 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 executed to the heavyweight division. Think about if [Jones] wins. Think about the place he’ll discover himself in when it comes to negotiating energy then.
In Cormier’s prime, he additionally reigned as a two-division champion at heavyweight and lightweight heavyweight. And whereas he was completely happy together with his pay, he says it was nowhere close to what Jones is allegedly asking for.
Even contemplating that fighters are seemingly paid extra now than when Cormier was competing, he nonetheless expects Jones and his workforce to should hustle for an eight-figure payday.
“I’ll let you know guys proper now as an individual that has been concerned in large 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 lightweight heavyweight champion, $30 million was actually a world away from something we had been making,” Cormier stated. “I keep in mind after I acquired paid in New York, I acquired an enormous bump to take a battle on three weeks’ discover, which finally turned my wage, and folks had 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.”
