Cormier, 37, was expected to cash the biggest check of his career for his bout against Jones, but with Anderson Silva in Jones’ place the fight purse reportedly went from $1 million to $500,000 since it was no longer a title fight.
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“As a team, we congratulate Daniel Cormier. He deserves everything that he gets. I feel horrible that they cut his pay in half,” Jones’ manager Malki Kawa told The MMA Hour. “I don’t think that was warranted at all. I think the man deserved to get paid no matter what. I think the man deserved to get paid even more money, going through all of that.”
Cormier (18-1) won a unanimous decision against Silva and appears content with his purse and pay-per-view payouts saying he could make his money from the weekend last “10 years if I needed to.”
“I think that he showed what a true champion is and that he continues to fight, and I think that’s something he should be commended for,” Kawa said. “… But I also think that cutting that man’s pay like that, I think was just a tragedy. He didn’t deserve that at all."
It’s unclear if Cormier will ever get a second shot at Jones if he receives a two-year ban by USADA. But for now, he’ll set his sights on the winner of UFC 202’s light heavyweight fight between Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira.
