McGregor On Fighter Pay

Conor McGregor was asked about fighter pay, as he gave his thoughts on the matter.

McGregor is an outspoken advocate for the broader roster's compensation, and now a promotional stakeholder with a financial interest in keeping costs down on the other side of that equation. He acknowledged the tension directly.

"As an owner of Bareknuckle Fighting Championship, it kind of puts me in a pickle. I always vouch for the fighters, but I also have a stake in the company. So there has to be some sort of balance,” McGregor

Conor has been vocally supportive of fighters receiving more of the sport's revenue for years, and he repeated that stance while contextualising the progress he believes has been made.

"I'll always campaign for the fighters getting their worth, and I'm very happy with it. It's a steady rise. If you ask Max, I'm sure it's probably five times his highest pay. So the boys and the girls are getting there, and I will always campaign for that, and I'll always be happy that I have helped spearhead that,” McGregor

The fighter pay debate in the UFC is ongoing and structural. Critics of the promotion's compensation model argue that fighters receive a significantly smaller share of total revenue than athletes in major American sports leagues, and that the sport's governing structure gives individual fighters limited leverage in negotiations.

McGregor sits across both arguments. His own earnings — from the Mayweather boxing match, from UFC pay-per-view records, from his Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand — have made him one of the wealthiest athletes in combat sports history. The platform the UFC provided was essential to all of it.

"I know without the fighters, there is none of this — not an iota of it. So I'm happy that the money is rising in the fight business, and that we're thriving, and I'm happy to be back and give it that extra little fuel to its rocket, and off it goes,” McGregor