Demetrious Johnson will reach a new financial milestone at UFC 216

This weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 216, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will attempt to defend his title against Ray Borg. If Johnson is successful, it’ll mark his 11th consecutive title defense – the all-time record in the UFC.

Despite the fact that Johnson is just days removed from potentially establishing himself as the most dominant champion in UFC history, he’s not really paid as such. Luckily, Johnson has worked out a new deal that means he will finally be getting pay-per-view points – a luxury afforded to most other champions – for this UFC 216 bout with Borg.

Demetrious Johnson broke it all down in a chat with Ariel Helwani at yesterday’s UFC 216 media day.

“[My deal] just got restructured,” he said of his new deal. “I just want to be on the same playing field as all the other champions. And it’s all public record, you know. Dana White, those guys, they don’t say it – they kind of say it – but every single champion out there gets [$500,000 flat], plus pay-per-view points, whereas I’m not to that level yet. So, that’s my goal. That’s what I believe first-round management can get me to. It’s not like this is my first or second or fourth title defense. I didn’t just win the belt. You get guys who win the belt, and they get $500,000 flat straight up, and then they get pay-per-view points. It’s like dude, 10 title defenses, I’m going for the 11th one and hopefully I’m successful. I’d just like to be like those other guys, 500 flat. I think it should be plain Jane. Make it an incentive to become a champion. Like boom, you become a champion, 500 flat plus pay-per-view. If I was running the company that’s how I’d make it.”

“All this stuff will be disclosed, but I’ll get pay-per-view points,” Johnson continued, offering up the details of his new deal. “But [I’m] not [where I want to be] yet.”