McGregor: "This is a $40 million year for me. A damn good year"

[Willy Wanker]

That probably applies to most sports really. At the end of the day, people like to buy into a character, whether they love them or hate them. Self promotion is the way to make real money. Nobody is just going to offer you huge money just because you can fight, it's business and you have to sell yourself. You don't even need to be a loud mouth, just have a selling point. Like Pacquiao, he had the image of this smiling little Asian guy that was demolishing top fighters in the ring. It was part of the package and it sold. People like Terrence Crawford and Ward are excellent fighters, but they don't really offer anything else. They have no image or personality to sell. A fight only lasts 36 minutes...you need more than that to keep people interested.

Exactly. But it just sucks that guys like Jacare and Khabib have to wait so long for title shots that they've earned. Henderson is an ATG and he has history with Bisping so that will sell more than Bisping vs. Jacare, Romero or even Rockhold, and Conor will outsell anyone at this point.

I understand how the payscale in the UFC works, but the ranking system seems to be less relevant now. UFC is really is becoming more like boxing in that sense.

As long as they're is a healthy balance between the sport side and entertainment side, then I won't complain too much. People can complain that Conor didn't earn a title shot at 155, but people will be watching regardless. I know I am.

[Anthony342]

Ric Flair is the real TBE.

Aw hell yeah.

[BennyST]

where is there some proof that he made 20 mil besides his own mouth?

Yeah, he's obviously doing well, but I don't believe **** that comes from his mouth and he's been caught exaggerating many times already.

Most of the numbers he spouts changes each press conference and suddenly seem to get bigger depending on his mood, so frankly, I don't believe this at all.

[hectari]

He is not making 40 million a year, he doesn't have mega millions.

Its all hype, he is talking out his azz like Floyd did when Floyd claimed WWE paid him 20 million for Wrestlemania, when he only got 1 million and did it for his kids but WWE told him to say that to build up the event.

Conor is not making 20 or even 10 million, if you are getting 50k fight of the night bonus that means you are not getting paid big money, UFC wouldn't give him a measly 50k fight of the night if he was

Conor doesn't own a mansion in Cali, he rents a condo on Manhattan Beach near El Segundo, he rents his cars on lease, he doesn't own any of those luxury cars, not one of them is detailed or customized, its all show.

People are gullible.

He gets like 2 million tops, UFC is not like boxing, they cant afford to give the headline 10 to 20 million, UFC pays production,promotion and has a stable of fighters over 300. There is no way he gets that money, the only one who was getting big money was Brock Lesnar and it was 3 million guarantee plus ppv points or something.

Dana White even said Ronda Rousey was the biggest star and highest earning MMA fighter, mostly from her endorsements.

[TheCell8]

He is not making 40 million a year, he doesn't have mega millions.

Its all hype, he is talking out his azz like Floyd did when Floyd claimed WWE paid him 20 million for Wrestlemania, when he only got 1 million and did it for his kids but WWE told him to say that to build up the event.

Conor is not making 20 or even 10 million, if you are getting 50k fight of the night bonus that means you are not getting paid big money, UFC wouldn't give him a measly 50k fight of the night if he was

Conor doesn't own a mansion in Cali, he rents a condo on Manhattan Beach near El Segundo, he rents his cars on lease, he doesn't own any of those luxury cars, not one of them is detailed or customized, its all show.

People are gullible.

He gets like 2 million tops, UFC is not like boxing, they cant afford to give the headline 10 to 20 million, UFC pays production,promotion and has a stable of fighters over 300. There is no way he gets that money, the only one who was getting big money was Brock Lesnar and it was 3 million guarantee plus ppv points or something.

Dana White even said Ronda Rousey was the biggest star and highest earning MMA fighter, mostly from her endorsements.

If you look at the numbers, he's very likely going to approach close to $40M this year.

His last two PPV's did 1.5M and 1.65M respectively, at $5/PPV Buy (which is the standard rate for PPV draws in the UFC) that's already $15.75M, plus $6M from the guaranteed purses, that's 21.75M. UFC 205 which is projected to clear 1.5M buys again, plus another $3M purse will get him around $32M.

That's without counting the endorsements. Like Call of Duty, which paid him likely around $4M, plus Reebok etc.