Fight Magazine - Australia - April - May _

DEMETRIOUS JOHNSON

he’s probably walking around at 145,
160 maybe.

What would be your price to
take on Cruz?
You know what my price is for the
super-fights? It’s two million dollars.
So if I flip over to the money page
and I see that $2 million, that seven
figures, I’m gonna sign that fucking
contract. An idiot would be the only
person not to sign that contract.
But you know, like I said, if the
contract’s that and it’s $2 million,
absolutely I’d go for that super-fight.
Oh shit, I’ll put my kids through
college and I will never have to fight
again. I’d be smart with that money.

But [laughs], my wife goes, ‘No you

wouldn’t.’ But that said, that’s not

the reality right now.

Would you take less than

$2 million for the fight?

I feel like I’m worth more. I mean,

I feel that if the UFC can net-gross

$600 million, they can spare $2

million of that. They wouldn’t even

fucking notice that it’s gone. So that’s

my case, and I value myself at a high

level and I think everybody should.

And I think with all these other

fighters, you know, fighting out the

end of their contracts and seeing

what they’re worth, I think it’s good.

At the end of the day, it’s about

paying your bills.

We are all athletes and our

window of opportunity to make as

much money as possible is a short

window. So for me to go up to a

different weight class and take on

the champion — and like I said, I

don’t need to go fight Dominick

Cruz. I don’t need to go fight for

the 135-pound belt. I don’t need to.

There’s nothing in my life that says,

‘Arggh, you gotta do it.’

Right now I’m focused on breaking

the title defence record, putting

enough money away for me [so that]

after I’m done fighting in mixed

martial arts, I can have a smooth

transition into my next career and

have enough money where I don’t

have to look back like, ‘Man, I should

have done this and this with my

money.’ I want to make sure I’m well

taken care of.

And that’s how it should be for

Conor [McGregor] and for Conor

taking on Aldo. That was the biggest

fight of his life. I’m pretty sure he

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