UFC’s Ol’ Reliable Moneymaker McGregor Returns To Cage Today
By Cassandra Cousineau for LVSportsBiz.com
Conor McGregor is back and he’s still UFC’s big money man.
McGregor, who hasn’t fought since a 40-second TKO win over Donald Cerrone in January 2020, finds himself back in the forefront of a title shot in tonight’s UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi.
Squared up in a rematch with No. 1 ranked lightweight contender Dustin Poirier, according to the Independent, the Irishman is guaranteed to bank $5 million just to step into the octagon.
That would be $2 million more than he earned against Cerrone last year. The number is significant considering UFC 256 drew an announced attendance of 19,040 fans for a live gate of $11,089,129.30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where UFC is based.
With somewhere in the area of 1,000 fans expected in the arena, the UFC 257 event will air live on ESPN+ PPV from the Etihad Arena on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. If the event meets expectations, “The Notorious” could walk away with a whopping $20 million USD thanks to PPV buys and backend revenue.
As for Poirier, the long-time UFC veteran is expected to earn $1 million, plus undisclosed PPV money to in an attempt avenge his loss to McGregor in their first meeting in Sept. 2014. Win or lose, the Lafayette, Louisiana native will be rewarded with the biggest payday of his professional MMA career.
McGregor is also donating $500,000 to Poirer’s The Good Fight Foundation. In 2018, the Poirier family began auctioning off Dustin’s fight kits after every match to benefit local community initiatives in and around Lafayette.
The first major PPV of the year for UFC is projected to pull in 1.6 million buys, and will be the Irishman’s first appearance at 155 pounds since a submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov back in 2018. Even as Nurmagomedov announced his retirement in an emotional post-fight interview in October of 2020, hasn’t relinquished the belt, and remains the current lightweight champion on the UFC books.
The so-called retired fighter remains inextricably linked to McGregor given the bad blood between the two stemming from a bus attack, and post-fight melee in 2018. The possible rematch between the two has been the looming side-story of the entire McGregor vs Poirier fight build up.
When it comes to profitability, McGregor still sits at the top of the UFC food chain. Especially during the uncertainty of a pandemic, McGregor’s current and next fight are crucial to the promotion’s bottom line.
This week, UFC shared a video of Dana trying to convince Khabib to come back for a super-fight with Conor. “This fight with Poirier? It’s trending bigger than the fight with you and Conor on pay-per-view. Imagine what you and Conor would do in another f**king fight. Just saying. I’m just saying.”
