Getty Image
The antitrust lawsuit brought by more than 1,200 current and former MMA fighters against the UFC revealed has some startling payments made to CM Punk (real name: Phil Brooks).
The lawsuit, which was settled in March for $335 million, showed that CM Punk was paid $500,000 for his first fight in 2016, plus additional incentives and bonuses that ended up netting him $1,042,736 for his two-minute, 14 second loss to Mickey Gall.
Many fighters, including then-UFC bantamweight Cat Zingano and former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, took major issue with Punk being paid so much while actual UFC champions were making less.
This week, the inaugural UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, spoke out about the discrepancy.
“A big spit in the face of all the champions,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, it’s more of a popularity contest that gets you the money in mixed martial arts than actual skill.
“A gentleman who is 0-1 in mixed martial arts, making $500,000. Obviously, he made that money because of his wrestling history. I’m not gonna lie to you guys, this put a chip on my shoulder, and a bad taste in my mouth because I was doing mixed martial arts my whole entire life and the most I ever made in the UFC was like $380,000 plus $40,000. It’s all public record.”
Over the weekend, former UFC light-heavyweight and middleweight championship contender Chael Sonnen, weighed in as well. He had a slightly different take on it.
“I never liked the way the CM Punk was told,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I didn’t like it when it was happening.
“He had the courage to do it, he had the opportunity, but he had the courage. And then, out comes the payment and that sent everybody over the edge as well.
“So now, you’ve got a guy with no experience, who has placement on a card and who just made more money. Therefore, he’s a jerk, as opposed to understanding that he did not negotiate. As opposed to understanding that they were willing to give him $2 million, but they offered $750,000 and he said yes because it wasn’t about the money.
“It was a bucket list. The answer was yes, do you want to do this, the answer was yes. These are all parts of the story that get left out.”
CM Punk would go on to fight one more time in the UFC, a loss by unanimous decision to Mike Jackson which was later changed to a no contest after Jackson tested positive for marijuana.