‘$50 Million’: UFC Legend Seeks Jon Jones-Level PFL Deal for MMA Comeback

Just a year after closing the chapter on his fighting career, Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson has said that there’s one way he could be persuaded to return. Money, yes, and lots of it. And Jon Jones is Johnson’s benchmark when it comes to big bucks in MMA.

Jones, currently slated to fight interim champion Tom Aspinall next, was recently floated an offer of $50 million to take on PFL champion Francis Ngannou for what would essentially be the lineal heavyweight title of the world.

Jones and Ngannou were first teased to fight in 2021 when Ngannou was still in the UFC as the heavyweight champion while Jones had vacated the 205 lb title for a shot at becoming a two-division champion. The fight never materialized since Jones demanded $30 million.

And Ngannou took it a step further, demanding better pay for fighters all across the board, and left the promotion. A big payday is what Johnson seeks, too, asserting that the kind of amount the PFL is offering Jones would make him consider putting on the gloves one more time.

“I just had this conversation on my podcast, we haven’t dropped it yet. If I was to come back and fight, it would have to be like $50 million,” Johnson said in a conversation with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. The only question is, who’s going to pay it? Said Johnson.

According to reports, Johnson made $750,000 in his last fight under the ONE banner a year ago. So, is this a gross overvaluation of his own celebrity worth? To be honest, even the $50 million for Jones sounds like an exaggeration. Perhaps it is a desperate marketing ploy in the face of declining numbers.

UFC veteran Chael Sonnen said exactly that, claiming that the UFC GOAT has never been that much of a record-breaker when it came to PPVs and revenue generation.

“There has never been a time in his career that Jon has been sought after. There were massive budgets that had to go in place when you had a Jon Jones fight… And more times than not, they did not fill up the arena,” Sonnen said.

With fighter morale at an all-time low and many talented athletes like Patricio Freire leaving the PFL for UFC’s perceived greener pastures, the promotion needs a big night. But can the PFL afford a gamble with Jones?

PFL’s declining numbers

Back in October, PFL’s co-founder Donn Davis made ambitious claims that his PFL: Battle of the Giants event would outspend UFC’s $20 million fight night at the Las Vegas Sphere. However, the financial reality of the event proved disastrous.

With only 10,000 PPV buys at $49.99 each, the promotion made a mere $500,000 in revenue. Meanwhile, they paid their headliners exorbitant amounts, including $8 million to Francis Ngannou and $2 million to Renan Ferreira.

The result? A massive financial loss that PFL is struggling to recover from. Dana White had openly criticized their reckless spending at the time, suggesting that the promotion was drowning financially due to poor decision-making.

The consequences of these financial missteps have been evident. Since acquiring Bellator in November 2023, PFL has struggled to book established fighters. Notable names like Corey Anderson have been unable to secure fights due to the promotion’s budget constraints.