Jones surpasses Adesanya to become UFC's second highest-paid fighter

Jon Jones will compete for the heavyweight championship under his new UFC deal in March, making him the second-highest earner in the organisation.

Conor McGregor, who naturally earns tens of millions of dollars for his fights, which may all generate well over a million pay-per-view sales even in the age of illicit streaming, is by far the highest paid MMA fighter.

Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was the second highest paid boxer before Jones made his three-year absence from competition into action.

However, the UFC and the legendary fighter have reached an agreement that would make him the highest paid active fighter in the organisation, three years after he last successfully defended the light-heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes. 

Jones has been prepared to jump to heavyweight for years, but he thought his value to be more than the UFC was willing to pay. With the signing of his most recent contract, the UFC has finally acknowledged this.

"When you try to put together big fights, there are always a lot of twists and turns. We certainly had our fair share of twists over the past 24 or so months that I’ve been working with Jon," Jones' manager Richard Schaefer said during an interview on The MMA Hour after Jones and Ciryl Gane agreed to terms for a heavyweight title match.

"I'm very happy for Jon. I'm very happy for the MMA fans to see Jon finally fight for that UFC heavyweight title. It has been long in the making. You never really knew who it was going to be. We knew that it was going to be for the title. That’s what Jon wanted. I’m very happy that Jon is getting that title shot."

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