Demetrious Johnson drops bombshell, says UFC gave quarterly incentives to fighters based on Instagram traffic

Demetrious Johnson recently dropped a bombshell as he revealed that UFC fighters earned incentives based on their Instagram traffic. The reigning ONE flyweight champion continues to educate fans on what the pay structure was like during his tenure with the promotion, which has been eye opening.

'Mighty Mouse' is regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all-time but he has been transparent about his pay during his UFC tenure. He wasn't paid pay-per-view points like other champions, which was quite surprising for fans because of how great he was.

Championship Rounds tweeted a video from the former UFC flyweight champion's conversation with Chael Sonnen on his YouTube channel, where he discussed the social media incentive. During the clip, Johnson mentioned that the promotion had a quarterly incentive structure to encourage fighters to remain active on social media and promote upcoming fights. He said:

"They [the UFC] would give you incentives. I think it was quarterly incentives like, whoever had the most traffic...First person would get $25,000. It would go to like $12,000 and then $5000 and maybe $1000. They'd give us a lot of incentives to talk about the fights."

Check out Demetrious Johnson's comments below:

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Chael Sonnen confirms Demetrious Johnson's revelation regarding social media incentives

Chael Sonnen confirmed Demetrious Johnson's revelation regarding the UFC giving quarterly incentives for social media and noted that he benefited from the pay structure.

'The American Gangster' was known for his incredible ability to sell a fight and wouldn't mind being viewed as a villain if it ensured a lucrative payday. During the aforementioned interview, Sonnen mentioned that he had been awarded two incentives for his social media activity and highlighted the importance of it. He said:

"The words matter and we should know that. And you brought up that pay for Twitter, I won that twice and it was $5000. And $5000 when you're not owed it, oh my God, that is so much money. It is the most exciting thing. Demetrious, I never threw a punch, I tweeted out some words." [44:48 - 45:06]

Check out Demetrious Johnson's full interview with Chael Sonnen below: