Henry Cejudo almost took a pay cut for a world title fight if his trainer is to be believed.
Cejudo competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight title earlier this month. He challenged Demetrious Johnson, who will go down as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time and was previously unbeaten at flyweight. Cejudo captured 125-pound gold with a split decision victory.
Henry Cejudo Almost Took a Pay Cut For UFC 227, His Trainer Says
Cejudo’s trainer Eric Albarracin has played a crucial role in the flyweight’s success in mixed martial arts. During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show, Albarracin revealed that Cejudo’s pay for UFC 227 was on the low end for title fights and his fighter even considered taking a pay cut (via MMAMania.com):
”To tell you the truth, Henry did not get a lot of money for this fight. Everybody told him ‘Don’t take the fight.’ No one knows this but Henry had a very low … almost took a pay cut 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.’ 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.”
Do you think Henry Cejudo is due for much bigger paychecks going forward?
