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Before his UFC 229 return to the Octagon, two-division champion Conor McGregor talks to Megan Olivi about Khabib Nurmagomedov, the May Mac experience, …
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This UFC’s video is titled The Exchange: Conor McGregor – UFC 229 and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:08:38, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Sporati on UFC’s video summary and description
Watch the highlights from the UFC 229 Press Conference, featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor from Radio City Music Hall. Subscribe to get …
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This UFC’s video is titled UFC 229: Khabib vs McGregor Press Conference Highlights and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:04:03, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Sporati on UFC’s video summary and description
Ahead of UFC 229, UFC will host a press conference with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. For the first time ever, face to face. Subscribe to get all …
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This UFC’s video is titled UFC 229 Press Conference: Khabib vs McGregor and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:44:11, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Sporati on UFC’s video summary and description
On Episode 5 of UFC 223 Embedded, lightweight champion Conor McGregor unexpectedly arrives, causing a disruption on the loading dock. Dana White …
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This UFC’s video is titled UFC 223 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 5 and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:06:24, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Conor McGregor made a successful comeback in 2016 making him on of the highest paid UFC fighters. In the press conference following UFC 205 he said he is closing out 2016 close to $40 million dollars in earnings.
Conor will continue to be a money making fighter in 2017 and other revenue streams are on sight like boxing. He has already gotten his boxing license (Conor get boxing licsene) and while a Mayweather vs McGregor is not likely to happen we are not shutting it off anytime soon.
One sure thing to increase his earnings is appreaing on “Game of Thrones”.
McGregor, 28, will make an appearance in one of the two remaining seasons of the hit HBO show, according to Northern Ireland newspaper The Sunday Life.
Conor McGregor is expected to appear in one of the two remaining seasons of HBO as the Game of Thrones director is a huge UFC fan and he believe Conor is a perfect fit for the show.
Conor is a also a huge fan of Game of Thrones and has sparring history with the “The Mountain” Icelandic strongman Hafþór Júlíus “Thor” Björnsson.
In case you missed that sparring from almost two years ago, here it is:
Following the Game of Thrones appearance floodgates for commercials and more offerings might come Conor’s way. As long as his acting doesn’t interfere and get him beaten up in his next UFC fights, he should be on his way to more earnings in 2017.
Ever since Conor McGregor got his boxing license the buzz of a Conor vs Mayweather mega fight has never been so loud at least on the side of McGregor.
The side of Mayweather however feels it is more talk than reality as Mayweather Promotions’ CEO Leonard Ellerbe insists this is just Conor’s way to get more attention and more money from UFC.
Leonard Ellerbe adds — “He’s done a masterful con job to try to trick people that he could actually pull this off.
Nobody is mad but it’s a con job trying to make people think this is real and even mentioning him and TBE in the same breath is disrespectful, completely disrespectful.”
Leonard Ellerbe continues — “Isn’t this the same guy who tapped out three fights ago?”
Mayweather on the other hand has taken it to a new level showing no respect for Conor McGregor as he posted on his instagram the loss of Conor against Diaz and ran a contest for the best quote:
Expect Mayweather to continuously mock Conor as he apparently has no respect for him boxing skills.
UFC has 500 fighters under contract and while the big headlines are Conor McGregor earning $40 million dollars on UFC 205 most of the fighters are underpaid, getting their ass beaten, live broke and do not have basic privileges. UFC is loaded and just recently been sold for $4.2 billion dollars making it the largest purchase in sporting history.
On Wednesday five UFC veterans introduced the Mixed Martial Arts Athlete Association whose purpose according to the group statement —
“The association’s sole concentration is to fight for the rights of MMA fighters and force UFC’s ownership to dramatically alter the company’s decade-plus outrageous treatment of its athletes.”
One of the five veteran fighters is former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre who says —
“UFC without fighters is only three letters of the alphabet, It’s time for us to make our voice heard and make change happen for the best of the UFC and fighters.”
Georges St-Pierre says that UFC and not the fighters is the biggest opponent there is —
“We’re all afraid, but it’s time to join up. It’s a fight for what is right and what is wrong. We should never be afraid to stand up for our virtues.”
The five UFC veterans to lead this initiative are St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez, TJ Dillashaw, Tim Kennedy and Donald Cerrone who are all calling for more money, and improved healthcare and other protections.
Most of the fighters are left alone for themselves and as St-Pierre adds —
“I know a lot of fighters want to remain anonymous, but I’m telling you guys, come see us. It’s time to stand together.”
Organizing a union was first started a few years ago but it didn’t gain any traction as these moves were seen to be desperate attempts of fighters past their prime, bitter and angry. On a side not, most unions are seen to be like that, an attempt by the company to squash it. An anti-trust lawsuit was filed in 2014 by a number of UFC veterans but again it didn’t progress much.
The UFC was still a growing entity and being a private company its financials and how it paid its fighters were never highlighted until the Fertitta family sold it for 4.2 billion dollars to the WME/IMG group that eyes started rolling.
What makes fighters angry is that UFC is making a lot of money and in 2015 they made $600 million dollars in revenue and 2/3 of that came from fights. UFC was pressured by media to disclose how much they were paying their fighters and the executives gave a general sports answer that is was industry standard like any major American sports like baseball, basketball and football. Contrary to earlier statements by Fertitta that they were giving half to figthers as told to ESPN in 2012; though it is believed they were only paying around 15% of their revenue to the sweat and blood of its fighters.
When the MMAAA was introduced on Wednesday, former Bellator president Bjorn Rebney was there and commented — “What the association is going to achieve for the athletes is a settlement to address the past wrongs, driving up [the revenue split] to 50% up from 8%, and a benefits package that provides a safety net”.
Aside from the 501c6 status, the structure of the MMAAA is still not clear and more information like investors, board members, will be learned.
The association wants the UFC to negotiate with them ideally before the UFC’s media rights are up for renewal in 2018 where they are being paid $115 million dollars annually. The UFC organization is pushing for $4.5 billion dollars over 10 years as per reported by the Sports Business Journal.
The success of the MMAAA will depend on the determination and patience of its founding members as this could take time to take off the ground. This process might be long but it will only benefit the fighters of the sport and could only help in developing talent.
On Wednesay, Conor McGregor has been issued a boxing license by the California State Athletic Commission and people are now excited to see Conor step on a boxing ring and make a name for himself. He already became the first UFC fighter to hold titles in two divisions after defeating Eddie Alvarez in UFC 205 and would want to add opportunities and fan base.
What does this mean to UFC? This is mostly a payday move and fighters has been complaining that UFC who has recently been sold for $4 Billion dollars is a billion dollar business built upon the sweat and blood of its fighters, fighters who are not paid well. Conor McGregor is one of the rare highest paid fighters in UFC who netted $40 million dollars in UFC 205 but he did bring in the viewers as UFC 205 brought in the highest gate sales in history with $17.7 million dollars followed only by the $13.5 million dollars in 1999 Lenox Lewis vs Evander Holyfield. UFC 205 also brought in 1.9 million PPV buys the biggest in the company’s history. Mayweather netted $230 million dollars for his fight against Pacquiao with a PPV buys of 4 million viewers. The $40 million payday of Conor McGregor on the 1.9 million PPV buys seems spare change to old school boxing.
While UFC fighters know this, Conor McGregor is in a position to demand as per his latest statement toward UFC — “If you want to come at me, if you want me to stick around and help service that debt and continue to push the company, bring me on board, for real. “I need to be set for life for this. If you want me to be truly on on board, then I need to be all-in on this proper, as an owner, and have an equity stake in the company. That’s what I’m looking for.”
While the boxing license doesn’t immediately mean Conor McGregor is going to fight Floyd Mayweather because Conor McGregor is under contract with UFC and there are only three scenarios where Conor can get a shot:
1. UFC willingly allows Conor McGregor to enter the boxing ring
2. UFC cashes in big with a Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather right
3. Conor McGregor finds a way to get out of contract from UFC
The only likely scenario that will happen here is #2 wherein UFC will make lots of money off this fight which would still mean nothing for Conor McGregor because his primary objective is to get a $100 million dollar payday on a boxing fight.
Given this scenario there isn’t going to be an immediate impact for UFC as they control the cards and while Conor is their biggest fighter, a single loss by Conor to an upcoming rematch with Nate Diaz or another fighter could exponentially drop his ratings again while UFC remains afloat.
Long-term impact would mean that a lot of fighters would be demanding for higher earnings or looking for a crossover to boxing. The pressure it would bring to UFC from a growing number of fighters with higher demands would keep on increasing and sooner or later UFC will have to make changes to their structure.
Conor McGregor boxing license is more of a wake-up call for now, but not strong enough to deliver a knockout punch on the UFC negotiating table.
