Conor McGregor set to shatter his own record as highest-paid fighter in the UFC
Earlier this year, Conor McGregor celebrated his place as the first-ever UFC fighter to make the Forbes 100 highest paid athletes list.
McGregor landed at No. 85 on the list overall, earning a reported $22 million over the past year, thanks to his UFC earnings, as well as various endorsements through companies like Reebok.
It looks like he'll be even higher next year.
McGregor raked in $4 million in disclosed purses for his two fights with Nate Diaz.
But that doesn't account for what he made with pay-per-view points on the back end. McGregor's UFC 196 fight with Nate Diaz sold 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, according to UFC president Dana White. His rematch with Diaz at UFC 202 was rumored to be even bigger.
Now McGregor is poised to headline UFC 205 in New York against lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez — a card that also features two more title fights and a litany of former champions and top contenders.
According to McGregor, he's about to crush his prior year's earnings with an even better 2016.
When the UFC was sold back in July for $4 billion to WME-IMG, McGregor had no problem taking credit for part of that number after he helped lead the company to a record breaking year even before his fight with Alvarez was scheduled.
There are no figures available for what McGregor will make in for UFC 205, but considering he made $1 million for his first fight with Diaz and $3 million for the rematch, it's hard to imagine his paycheck will go down for the Alvarez fight in November.
Now that he's about to add a few more zeroes to his own bank account — and give the UFC another show that's expected to break the one million mark in pay-per-view sales — McGregor believes he's worth every penny.
"$4.2 billion dollars," McGregor said. "That's why I'm worth to this company."
McGregor has already staked his claim as the highest paid athlete on the roster and it seems like second place isn't even close right now.
