Over the past two decades, the UFC has established itself as the biggest and most prominent MMA organisation in the world. ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor played a significant role in the exponential growth of the UFC since he joined the promotion in 2013. While there have been many big stars in the UFC, none have made it as big as Conor McGregor. Needless to say, this also meant that he is the highest paid athlete in the history of the company.
Unlike boxing, the exact purses of the fighters in the UFC are never revealed. However, that has changed recently thanks to a class-action lawsuit filed against the UFC. A number of former fighters came together to file a case against the UFC. They accused the company of monopolistic practices. Thanks to the ongoing legal issues, financial information regarding fighter pay has now been made accessible to fans worldwide.
This means that we can now take a closer look at how much Conor McGregor exactly earned over the course of his UFC career. As reported by BloodyElbow, ‘The Notorious’ received $3,285,000 for his fight against Chad Mendes. Against Jose Aldo he made $4,476,662 or $4,536,932. For the first Nate Diaz fight he made $5,576,315. In the rematch the figure slightly increased to $5,615,490. And finally for the Eddie Alvarez fight he made $6,812,374.
Despite being the richest fighter by far in UFC history, was Conor McGregor paid his fair share? Lets take a closer look at the numbers involved.
Conor McGregor underpaid by the UFC?
‘The Notorious’ is the undisputed PPV king when it comes to the UFC. He holds the record for the best selling PPV and has multiple entries in the top 10. It was always believed that McGregor was always extremely well paid in the UFC. However, the figures revealed above suggest that he was not paid his fair share considering how much the events that he was a part of generated in total.
For example, McGregor made $5.5 million for the first Nate Diaz fight. The PPV generated $61 million for the UFC. This means ‘The Notorious’ made a meager 9% of the overall revenue. The figure slightly increased in his bout against Eddie Alvarez. For the fight, McGregor was paid $6.8 million while the event generated $66 million. This means ‘The Notorious’ was paid 10.3% of the money generated.
While McGregor has never felt underpaid, the numbers are lower compared to the percentages athletes in other sports receive from revenue generated. With all that said, apart from McGregor’s return, further developments in the above mentioned case are also highly anticipated.
