UFC Flyweight Champion Henry Cejudo captured the gold with a split decision victory over Demetrious Johnson in the co-main event of UFC 227.
Eric Albarracin serves as the head coach of Cejudo for his fight camps and Albarracin claims the UFC didn?t make a good financial offer for Cejudo to compete at UFC 227.
?To tell you the truth, Henry did not get a lot of money for this fight,? Albarracin said on Ariel Helwani?s MMA Show. ?Everybody told him ?Don?t take the fight.? No one knows this but Henry had a very low ... almost took a paycut to take this fight. They were like ?Well, you don?t have to take it, but if you don?t they?re gonna give it to Formiga.? And then Pettis and Benavidez hadn?t fought yet, so it could have been the winner of that. And then TJ, so that?s three fights, it could be a year and a half, two years. So Henry goes ?You know what, I?m not in it for the money. I?m in it for the legacy. I?m taking this fight now, I don?t care what the money is.??
Johnson, who lost the bout, took home $380,000 for the fight while the new champion earned $100,000.
If there is something that Albarracin wanted Cejudo to do for UFC 227, it would've been to negotiate more.
?And he took the fight on a ... he didn?t really like, he didn?t really negotiate anything. Everybody was saying you shouldn?t be taking it for less than this much. He?s probably fought for the lowest salary for a title for a long time. Probably got paid less than Sage Northcutt,? says Albarracin.
Cejudo has not commented publicly on his payout for UFC 227, which was less than half of what his opponent got on that night.