Chael Sonnen was offered $5 million to leave the UFC®
source | MMAFighting.com
“Here’s the nuts and bolts of it: I was offered $5 million Vince McMahon,” said Sonnen as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMA Fighting. “Now, I was still under contract with the UFC and I never took this to Dana. I handled it on my own. I told them ‘No’ and that was the end of that. I never told Dana White this story, but here’s why I didn’t tell him. I knew if I called Dana and said, ‘I’ve got a $5 million offer from Vince McMahon,’ Dana would have matched it.”
“Dana would have come close and now all of a sudden I’m not a loyal employee. I’m not loyal to the UFC. I’m shopping them and I’m being loyal to myself. That’s business. That’s how that works and I don’t think anyone would have had hard feelings but I didn’t see myself that way.”
“That something really interesting about Dana. If you want to play ‘cutthroat business,’ he will play, but if you want to relax and just let him take care of things you’re going to be a lot better off.