If I have a chance to make a larger amount of money in a legacy fight against the No. 1 welterweight in history, it makes sense for me to want that fight. You have a lot of pay-per-view money coming to this company. Why shouldn't the champion partake in a piece of that pie?
I want to be able to fight on pay-per-view against the big fighters and do big numbers.
Fighting in Germany, Wladimir Klitschko makes so much money for everyone.
Pay-Per-View is run by drama. It is. It's true. I've done the research for myself. You look at Jon Jones. When Jon Jones fought Machida, probably did about $200,000, $300,000. When he fought Cormier, they made, like, $875,000.
People got to understand, the fighters at the top are the fighters that are supposed to get paid because they're the guys that are bringing people in, bringing eyes to the TV, getting pay-per-views buys, and putting people in the seats. I mean, that's what it comes down to.
I've never come out and said, 'I hold the most pay-per-view buys.' All I know is what I got paid, and I'm happy.
Even when you're on top in the UFC, you only get paid a couple times a year.
The UFC has a long history of changing a fighter's compensation for a particular bout... There's always changes that's always being made as far as contracts.
I think the only person who will ever lose in a fight and still end up making a million dollars is Conor McGregor - that's just because of how his contract is structured or whatever.
I'll sell a million pay-per-views if you're smart enough to market me the right way.
I know people say I could be the next big pay-per-view star. They say that about a lot of fighters. To reach that, it takes a lot. Not just fighting skills, but marketing, good promotion.
