Demetrious Johnson, a.k.a Mighty Mouse, is the arguable GOAT of MMA. Johnson still holds the record for the longest single title reign in the UFC, even though he is now with ONE FC. A misunderstanding with Dana White caused his move from the UFC to ONE FC. However, his UFC stint still generates revenue for Mighty Mouse.
Since THQ sold the license to EA Sports in 2013, the latter has published UFC video games. The games have been successful among the MMA fans. Many favorite fighters of fans have appeared on the video game cover. Interestingly, EA Sports having the rights to UFC video games proved beneficial for Johnson, as revealed by Mighty Mouse himself.
The very first check I got for being in the UFC video game was $25,000…So the next one that came out was UFC 3, and for this bad boy, the next check that I ended up getting was $12,500…When they came out with the icon edition with me on the front…I got a whopping $10,000…UFC 4 comes out. I leave the UFC. I’m not part of the company anymore, but my character is still in the game…I get in the mail is another whopping $25,000 for being in the game….. the total money I have made is a whopping $72,500.
Demetrious Johnson via his YouTube channel
Johnson is extremely grateful for the remuneration from EA Sports. For Johnson, a quarter of a hundred thousand dollars for using his likeness is good money as he does not suffer any damage like in the fight. He even hilariously suggested that Ryu, the popular Street Fighter video game character, never made any money. Among all the UFC games, Johnson likes UFC 3 the most as he was the cover of the icon edition with the tagline ‘Become the GOAT.’
Funnily enough, fans associate a curse for being on the cover of the UFC game. Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko were on the cover of the recent UFC 5 video game. Both were long-reigning champions who lost the belt after being on the cover. Israel Adesanya and Jorge Masvidal were on the cover of the UFC 4 video game. They also did not fare better. Nevertheless, the athletes make money for being on the game cover.
Demetrious Johnson explains how athletes make money from the UFC game
When Dana White and Fertitta brothers bought the UFC, they only got the UFC name and a dozen fighter contracts for $2 million. Bob Meyrowitz, the previous owner, sold the company’s gaming and other rights to various entities. Nonetheless, EA Sports eventually bought the gaming rights of the UFC from THQ and has been successful ever since.
Demetrious Johnson (Image via Imago)Demetrious Johnson recently revealed he got $72K from EA Sports using his likeness for the UFC game. Johnson spoke in detail of the amount of money he got for each UFC game. He also revealed how EA Sports paid the fighters who are in the game.
Now, how do they dictate how much money you’re going to get paid? I can’t dictate it. You guys actually dictate how much I get paid by how often you guys use me in the game. Now, when you log onto your game, let’s say you play an offline mode or you play online mode, each character you pick does a little ticker. It sends the data to the big mainframe computer, and that’s how they keep track of it…So they’re always tracking your data and keeping all the analytics to be able to put it together. So that’s how it dictates how much money your boy gets.
Demetrious Johnson via his YouTube channel
Johnson stated video game companies use the same method for every video game, even Street Fighter 6 and Escape From Tarkov. Might Mouse also find the remuneration package for EA Sports fair and favorable? Since Johnson got $25K for UFC 4, he realized he was still popular among the UFC fans.
As for his career, he has not fought since he beat Adriano Moraes in the trilogy fight. He has been active on the BJJ competition circuit, where he is a sensation, though he recently became a Black belt. UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja recently expressed his interest in fighting Johnson, though chances are slim.
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