LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 07: Justin Gaethje celebrates after defeating Michael Johnson in their lightweight bout during The Ultimate Fighter Finale at T-Mobile Arena on July 7, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Justin Gaethje wants per-round pay increase from UFC
Justin Gaethje is set to headline yet another UFC card tomorrow night. Now that he has looked back on headlining cards, Gaethje wants to start getting a pay increase per round.
Given that it is scheduled for five rounds, Gaethje wants the UFC to pay him for an extra two rounds even if it doesn’t go the distance.
“If I’m getting paid something for three rounds, it’s easy to do the math,” he told reporters at a media day for Saturday’s event at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. “If I’m getting paid $100,000 (to show) and $100,000 (to win), that’s like $33,000 a round if I lose, $66,000 a round if I win. So, I’d like to get paid ($132,000) more to fight for two extra rounds.”
However, Gaethje is rather confident he won’t be needing to go all five rounds with Edson Barboza. Gaethje believes he will make Barboza quit as he has quit before.
“I’ve seen a couple different Edson’s fight,” he said. “He’s quit before.”
Why Justin Gaethje wants a per-round pay increase is because the way he fights. He knows he brings excitement to the fans by putting on a show and always pressing forward. However, he knows because of the way he fights he will start to get seriously hurt in the fourth and fifth rounds, which is why he wants more money to fight five rounds.
“Not a lot of guys fight like me, so no, I’m not going to put them in the same category,” he said. “But if I do get seriously injured, it will be in the fourth or fifth round, whenever I’m extremely tired because of my output in the first two or three rounds.”
Ultimately, main event fighters do get a pay increase. However, Gaethje believes it is not enough. Rather, he has brought it up to the UFC to get paid more per round, but they don’t seem interested.
“I’m here to fight,” he said. “I’m not worried about the business. You can’t worry about the business this close to a fight. There’s only a certain amount of things I can control leading into this fight, and I will not spend an ounce of energy thinking about the other things that I can’t.”
