Mighty Mouse took home a solid $183,000 with his win over challenger Chris Cariaso at UFC 178. That includes a base salary of $129,000 to show, plus his win bonus of $54,000. While not terrible money, we'd still like to see a minimum wage for UFC champions of $150,000. Shockingly, Johnson is making more than Ronda Rousey, who more people to pay to watch. It will be interesting to see the final buy rate for UFC 178. Johnson's last Pay-per-View struggled and barely cracked the 100,000 buy mark. This card had a much stronger supporting cast, which should help it, but it was set to be one of the biggest cards of the year back when it had Jon Jones topping off the night. Now? There's a good chance it could hit 200,000 buys, but beyond that, things get a little murky. Still, Johnson put on a solid performance, submitting Cariaso, and he's close to having cleaned on the UFC's flyweight division. Short of a new crop of challengers, Mighty Mouse might be considered a move back up to bantamweight in the next year to eighteen months.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
