WON’T LET IT GO Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos Says Boxing Legend Mike Tyson Owes Him $50,000 After Influencing Dana White – TalkSPORT
Alex McCarthy
Junior Dos Santos is one of the most potent knockout artists the UFC’s heavyweight division has ever seen.
The Brazilian has TKO/KO finishes over ex-champions like Gabriel Gonzaga, Frank Mir, and Cain Velasquez, as well as other respected names like Mirko Cro Cop and the man who has the most KOs in UFC heavyweight history, Derrick Lewis.
However, Dos Santos, who has recently appeared in All Elite Wrestling fighting against the likes of Chris Jericho, claims boxing legend Mike Tyson screwed him out of $50,000 back in 2013.
“When I fought Mark Hunt (in 2013) I had two bonuses of the Night – Best Fight of the Night, and Best Knockout of the Night,” Dos Santos recalled in an exclusive interview with SunSport.
“And Mike Tyson was there watching the fight and at the press conference after the fights, Dana White said, ‘Junior Dos Santos has won two bonuses of the night. Best Fight of the Night, and Best Knockout of the Night.’
“But I was asking Mike Tyson and he told me to give the Knockout of the Night to somebody else!”
“He said, ‘Why give two bonuses to just one guy?’ So he took away from me $50,000. So he owes me $50,000! He deprived me of that.
“But it was normal back then to have two bonuses on the night and sometimes some guys got three!”
Quite rightly, Dos Santos wasn’t happy that the UFC – more specifically Dana White – let Tyson influence his payday.
“The fight was really good I went three rounds with Mark Hunt and in the end I knocked him out with a spinning back kick,” he said.
“They should have given me the two bonuses. For me it was a lot, but for the UFC maybe not.
“It showed a lot the personality of Dana White because the UFC is so big and if Mike Tyson says someone else should get the Knock Out of the Night, then the UFC should have given an extra bonus to someone else but still should have given me mine. They just took it away from me.”
Tyson has had influence on White a couple of times, including an infamous plane ride where Iron Mike put the fear of god into the UFC president.
