Despite entering the UFC with a legion of dedicated fans already, Conor McGregor first fought on the Facebook prelims on a UFC on Fuel TV event. He and his opponent Marcus Brimmage were set to make the same amount of money that night, $8k to show and $8k to win. Conor McGregor made quick work of Brimmage, though, earning him a $60k Knockout of the Night bonus and taking his pay up to $76k. It’s not the kind of money that retires you, but it is the kind that means you don’t have to be on social warfare, which is what Conor was collecting up until the week before the fight.
Conor’s contract money increased incrementally in his next couple of fights until he fought Dustin Poirier the first time around. For that fight, he made a total of $200k, split up into $75k show money, $75k win money, and a $50k bonus. Skipping forward slightly to fight Chad Mendes for an interim world title and to fight José Aldo to unify the belts, Conor made close to $600k both times.
His first million-dollar purse came when he moved up to Welterweight for the first Nate Diaz fight. He was guaranteed $1 million on the night. For his next four fights against Diaz, Eddie Alvarez, Khabib, and Cowboy, Conor was guaranteed a staggering $3 million. For his most recent rematch against Dustin Poirier, the Irishman made his biggest guaranteed money in MMA to date, at $5 million. Of course, none of these include the millions he certainly made off of his share of the pay-per-views.
MMA aside, we all know that Conor’s biggest fight purse came from his one and only professional boxing match. Not including sponsorships and PPV points, Conor was guaranteed $30 million for that night’s work against Floyd Mayweather. It’s 30x more than most fighters even dream about making.