“Not a cent to my name and I owed me b****x out.”
Back in 2008, Conor McGregor was on the dole, earning €100 and taking in around €1,500 a year.
By 2011, not much had changed…
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His UFC debut arrived in April 2013 and, for McGregor, there was no time to lose. He racked up wins as quickly as the trash-talk coming out of his mouth.
He was an express train in his first 18 months with the promotion and secured a UFC featherweight title fight with José Aldo but settled for dusting Chad Mendes when the Brazilian pulled out. By the time Aldo finally stepped in the Octagon, at UFC 194, McGregor knew what was coming. 13 seconds in and he went from interim to undisputed champion.
2016 was undoubtedly the year of McGregor and his rise was not halted by a submission loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196. By the time his avenged that loss, at UFC 202, his disclosed pay-out had rocketed from $1m to $3m and that’s without his share of pay-per-view points.
Indeed, according to Patrick Wyman of Bleacher Report, McGregor-headlined events in 2016 – all three of them – made the promotion more than $140m.
It should be little surprise, then, to see McGregor featuring prominently on the Forbes top 100 earners list.
The Dubliner was listed as 85th in the list, on €40.8m [$44m] in earnings during 2016. The business publication lists €37.3m in earnings and bonuses from the UFC, with the remaining €3.5m from endorsement deals.
To date, McGregor has yet to fight in 2017 and does not look like doing so any time soon. Straigh Blast Gym stable-mate, and friend, Gunnar Nelson recently told ESPN:
“He’s got a lot of money now that keeps him occupied. He can do a lot of stuff. I think he’d be alright for a year. He always has something cooking.”
While UFC president Dana White has suggested Tony Ferguson could be his next fight, McGregor himself has told fans the next time they see him in action will be in a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Whoever he does end up fighting, McGregor will be an even richer man whenever it comes around.
