Tyron Woodley laments UFC pay, Donald Cerrone money

Fighter pay is one of the most notable and unrelenting debates in the MMA industry. A business all but conquered by the UFC sees the promotion absorb far and away most of the revenue generated by their most notable talents. Past estimates have pegged the promotion as regularly taking more than 80% of revenue. With contracted athletes receiving less than 20%.

Despite those kinds of numbers, many current and former stars have defended the industry’s pay standards, claiming that they got a fair shake from UFC brass during their time there. Don’t expect former UFC champion Tyron Woodley to be among those voices, however.

Ex-UFC champ Tyron Woodley says he was making Donald Cerrone money

In a recent conversation with former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, longtime Roufusport talent and former welterweight king Tyron Woodley revealed that even during his time fighting for the UFC he had serious disagreements with Dana White & co. over the promotion’s pay scale. Most notably it sounds like he was pissed off to realize that he wasn’t making any more to be champion than perennial action favorite Donald Cerrone was to be a contender.

“I was going to leave the UFC after (fighting) Darren Till,” Woodley revealed (transcript via MMA Junkie). “I told them, ‘F—king cut me, dog. Ya’ll don’t want me here. Why ya’ll keep holding on to me, dog?’ We (kept) fighting and sh*t every fight because you know how I was. I was a gorilla. … I knew the numbers so well. I knew what everybody was making. I’m not finna go out there and be making the same as ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone.

“That motherf—ker ain’t never touched gold in his life. That’s just a principle thing. Sometimes when you’re an African-American in this game, they think you should just be appreciative. I’m not just appreciative. I’m thankful that you gave me an opportunity, but you didn’t give me the gifts. God gave me the gifts. I’m thankful to him.”

Woodley went to bat for Demetrious Johnson

Alongside his feelings about his own contract during his UFC run, Tyron Woodley also apparently got wind of Demetrious Johnson’s struggles to get a good deal from the world’s largest MMA promotion. Notably, that Johnson defended his belt multiple times without a typical $500k champion’s purse, and never got his share of PPV points. Once again, Donald Cerrone (reportedly making $350k a fight) was a source of comparison and consternation.

“You got DJ who got (11) titles, but you going to pay ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone the same as him?” Woodley asked, after revealing he’d argued with the UFC brass over Johnson’s contract. “Cowboy was making [$350,000]. He never touched gold ever. So, your reason behind him making $350,000 per fight is that he never complains, he takes any fight that you offer him, he’ll even fight injured, he’ll even fight last-minute notice. That don’t work for me.”

Tyron Woodley claimed Jake Paul fight was biggest purse of his career

We don’t have all the exact numbers from his MMA career, but Woodley reportedly banked $2 million for his fight against Jake Paul plus PPV points on top of that for the event’s 500,000 buys. It’s a number that, heading into the bout, Woodley claimed was the biggest of his career.

“Easiest fight of my career & biggest purse of my career all in one night. Basically, they brought me in to take out the trash,” Woodley crowed before losing a split decision in their first meeting.

Bloody Elbow’s own research has estimated that Woodley made somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000,000 for his draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205, a PPV he shared with Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez. It’s not hard to see how, with a $2,000,000 base purse for his bout against Paul, the ‘Chosen One’ might have exceeded that figure for his debut inside the ring. Woodley was reported to have earned a $1,000,000 purse for the December rematch against Paul, which only sold 200,000 buys on PPV.

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Zane Simon

Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer, and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. He has worked with the website since 2013, taking on a wide variety of roles. A lifelong combat sports fan, Zane has trained off & on in both boxing and Muay Thai. He currently hosts the long-running MMA Vivisection podcast, which he took over from Nate Wilcox & Dallas Winston in 2015, as well as the 6th Round podcast, started in 2014. Zane is also responsible for developing and maintaining the ‘List of current UFC fighters’ on Bloody Elbow, a resource he originally developed for Wikipedia in 2010.

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