Manager: Jon Jones is highest paid fighter in UFC, Dana White issues ‘will get resolved with time’
Jon Jones made a triumphant return to the Octagon this past Saturday night (July 29, 2017) by knocking out Daniel Cormier in the third round of their championship rematch at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California.
Afterward, it was reported that “DC” banked a cool $1 million in defeat, while “Bones” only got paid $500,000. According to Jon’s longtime manager Malki Kawa, you don’t always have to believe what’s being reported, as he revealed on The MMA Hour that Jon is the highest paid fighter in the promotion.
“A lot, he will make a lot. He makes a lot already as it is. People see all that stuff that gets reported on the internet,” said Malki. “I’ve been telling you guys for a long time, Jon is the highest paid guy in the UFC, aside from pay-per-view, just on the base guarantees, and I guess people never really believe, so I just let you guys believe what you want to. The pay-per-view (PPV) stuff is just extra.”
When asked if “Bones” banks more than box office machine Conor McGregor, Kawa pulled back just a tad.
“Listen, I’m not going to get into all of that. I’m just letting you guys know that he is definitely up there, top two or three. Take that and run with it.” As far as revealing the finer details of his UFC 214 pay, Malki wasn’t about to put Jon’s business out on the street.
“I don’t necessarily need to put his business out like that. He doesn’t necessarily like that. Just put it like this, he makes good money and he will be making more money and if the pay-per-view does well he will make even more money. So, you can’t beat any of that.”
According to UFC president Dana White, the UFC 214 pay-per-view (PPV) event is expected to do over a million buys, which means Jon gets that much more “extra.”
It’s good to be king.
As far as Jon’s issues with UFC president Dana White, Kawa was confident in saying that it “will all get resolved with time,” seeing as how “it’s not as bad as it seems.”
So why is Malki so confident it will get resolved? Because he put Demetrious Johnson and White in a room together to hash out their beef this past weekend and they ultimately “buried the hatchet,” and says he will likely do the same with Jones and Dana down the road, too.
