It’s always been known that Conor McGregor takes a large chunk of the entire budget directed at UFC fighters. He is the star of the show, the one who has driven the most pay-per-views to the company with every single one of his events. Although he hasn’t fought for the company, McGregor is still the most relevant name in the industry as his name is used to negotiate new contracts by the UFC with other companies. It is only logical that president Dana White wants to keep him in the company, but he hadn’t heard about the actual money he makes from fights until now. Before Conor McGregor, there were other fighters who had many more titles defenses than he had but are nowhere near the stats he generated.
UFC former champion leaks Conor McGregor’s earnings
The structure of what Dana White and his team offer champions is very straight forward, former champion Demetrius Johnson gave us all a glimpse into what Conor makes per fight automatically. Basically, every single fighter who becomes a champion has a flat rate added to his contract for every fight after that. Plus, they get pay-per-view points for every fight they get. With Conor McGregor, this money he perceives is very different due to the massive pay-per-view numbers he drives to the company. By the time he fights again, he will still make millions due to that detail alone.
Here’s what Johnson said on his YouTube channel: “If you’re a lightweight or a welterweight, middleweight, or heavyweight, I’ve been told that once they became champion, they got $500,000 flat, and it went straight into their contract. They got pay-per-view points every single time. So, when Conor became champion he got $500,000 flat pay-per-view points. Jon Jones got $500,000 flat, pay-per-view points. They disclose $500,000 flat, but that’s what they got. For me, it was never that. If I would have got pay-per-view points every single time I defended my belt, if I was on the Jon Jones, Conor McGregor card, Amanda Nunes, whatever it may be, it might not be an $800,000 extra check, but those extra six-figure checks add up eventually with 10-11 consecutive title defences.”