{"id":40469,"date":"2026-09-10T03:16:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T03:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Justin-Gaethje-went-from-80-cents-to-not-touching-his-UFC-title-paycheck-202736"},"modified":"2026-09-10T03:16:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T03:16:37","slug":"justin-gaethje-went-from-80-cents-to-not-touching-his-ufc-title-paycheck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/justin-gaethje-went-from-80-cents-to-not-touching-his-ufc-title-paycheck\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Gaethje went from 80 cents to not touching his UFC title paycheck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Justin
\nGaethje<\/a> realized he had no money to spend just as he was about
\nto celebrate his first decent paycheck.<\/p>\n

Gaethje fought on television for the first time in 2013 under the
\n
\nWorld Series of Fighting<\/a> banner. He was supposed to earn
\n$8,000, but was mistakenly paid $10,000. Gaethje went to New York
\nCity to celebrate with his family. However, he realized his bank
\naccount was frozen due to the payment error when he went to the
\nATM, leaving him essentially penniless.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Justin Gaethje recalls going broke early in his career before
\nbeating Ilia Topuria for the UFC title<\/h2>\n

Gaethje says he endured an \u201cabsolutely terrible\u201d Sunday following
\nhis bank account getting frozen. He recalls feeling rich and
\nspending his first paycheck within a month. \u201cThe Highlight\u201d didn\u2019t
\nbuy anything fancy, spending his money almost entirely on food
\ninstead and claims this cycle repeated over and over again.<\/p>\n

Now one of the most successful athletes in the sport, the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> lightweight titleholder claims
\nhe’s yet to touch his paycheck from his historic title-winning
\neffort against Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> at
\nUFC Freedom 250<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst time I fought on TV, World Series of Fighting, I was
\nsupposed to get paid $4k\/4k [show\/win], and they accidentally paid
\nme $5k\/5k. It was a Saturday night and they gave me a $10,000
\ncheck,\u201d Gaethje told UFC Hall of Famer Demetrious
\nJohnson<\/a>. \u201cI had maybe 80 cents in my account. We went to New
\nYork City; I took my family; we had never been before. On Sunday, I
\nwent to the ATM, put it in and they froze my account and I had zero
\ndollars in New York City until Monday morning. So that day was
\nabsolutely terrible. But then I thought I was rich for life, blew
\nit in one month. Did it again, thought I was rich, went broke, did
\nit many times. I didn\u2019t buy anything; I just bought food. Life was
\nso easy back then\u2026 My last paycheck, I haven\u2019t touched it.\u201d<\/p>\n