UFC legend Demetrious Johnson exposes Dana White’s company for refusing $1 Million paycheck

Demetrious Johnson reveals how much he wanted UFC to pay him in fighter compensations to fight non-125-pounder TJ Dillashaw.

UFC legend Demetrious Johnson exposes Dana White’s company for refusing $1 Million paycheck

Demetrious Johnson reveals tidbits behind once making fight against TJ Dillashaw possible (Source: IMAGO/X)

In his illustrious UFC run, Demetrious Johnson kept his legacy going as an all-time great. Johnson, with his high battle IQ, went up against a murderer’s row of UFC talents and outdid them. ‘DJ’, a bona fide Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend, often found himself on the right end of matchmaking for top industry names. One name Johnson wanted to face was ex-UFC bantamweight champion – TJ Dillashaw.

Given their gravitas at that point, Demetrious Johnson vs. TJ Dillashaw would’ve been a roof-shattering contest. The pair had already cemented their standing in the upper tiers of the men’s pound-for-pound rankings. It is similar to the Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev dream fight today. Johnson had his own expectations on how he wanted to be compensated for it.

When it came to any 125lbs fighter in the division, …I fought every single one of them. The only fight where there was any kind of push back was when I was about to fight TJ Dillashaw., because I wanted $1 million to have a superfight…That was a materialistic thing, and he wasn’t a 125lbs fighter — There was other stuff in the contract that we wanted, but it never came to fruition. But it is what it is.

Demetrious Johnson via his “MIGHTY” Podcast (@Mighty15x) 

Demetrious Johnson defended his UFC flyweight hardware a ginormous 11 times; a record high to date that gave names like Anderson Silva a run. However, the American fighter has had a chip on his shoulder about inadequate PPV compensations and had beef with Dana White. He also had issues about not getting suitable fighter compensation for his exit bout against former double-division champ Henry Cejudo.

However, Johnson was always realistic about flyweights being bottom of the barrel in the pecking order and having less negotiating wiggle room. While the UFC 71 Reebok UFC Fight Kit and Mixed Martial Arts Fan Apparel sponsorship fell through for many, his didn’t.

Johnson said a full portion of his pay stubs converted into proper sponsorship payments. While vocal about his pay scale inadequacies, he has often mentioned that the flyweight roster usually got an apt cut. Not negotiating and matching up to a non-125-pounder like TJ Dillashaw came under the territory. At the time, such a matchup could not be made. It didn’t stop Johnson himself from becoming a 125-pound GOAT.

Local Backyard fighter breaks long skid streak after training with UFC/ONE legend Demetrious Johnson

While the TJ Dillashaw fight never came to fruition, Johnson still had a string of exciting scraps. He nearly overcame all who stepped into the bounds with him, and some of his movesets go on in history with a tag. The wisdom he can and sometimes imparts still lives on in its own form.

Demetrious Johnson trained fight rookie to victory
Demetrious Johnson trained fight rookie to victory (Source: X)

This week was a weird one for the combat clique, with even hardcore boxing purists finding it a drag with how few cards went. The Times Square NYC Fatal Fury card earlier in the week also didn’t help matters in anyways.

On the UFC/MMA/PFL side of things, this stretch has been a moderate one with no big shattering changes. But, for a smaller combat fan clique, the real fight didn’t materialize in an octagon or the squared circle in NYC. It happened in the ‘STREETBEEFS’ fight promotion.

Former UFC flyweight Demetrious Johnson spent some hours in gimmicky training with a backyard fighter by the name of ‘Death Sentence’. The duo posted a number of training snippets in several videos posted to their YouTube channel.

In the comments below the video, Mighty Mouse wrote that if the video got more than 250K views, he would personally train the amateur fighter. The flyweight GOAT even had the fighter over on his podcast and other ventures.

The fighter went from wild flailing range shots to actual good transitions. He even got the back and jumped a rear-naked choke for it. Comments on the video lauded the fighter; moreover, the comment section praised Johnson as a true GOAT for helping with this minimal but true transition.

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