Questionable arbitration clause could cost Conor McGregor big money in UFC’s $335 million antitrust settlement
After making millions of dollars betting on Nate Diaz and a couple of football matches, Conor McGregor stands to make a lot more from the UFC’s $335 million class-action settlement.
So long as the judge signs off.
Last week, news broke that Judge Richard F. Boulware was not entirely comfortable putting his stamp of approval on a settlement that could squash an antitrust case filed against the promotion more than a decade ago.
Boulware is expected to deliver his decision next week. If he ultimately decides to sign off on the deal, McGregor will stand to bank $7 million from the deal — more than any of the other 1,200 fighters represented in the suit.
Still, McGregor is being massively underpaid due to a questionable arbitration clause that was added to his contract at some point. The compensation he’s set to receive is for illegally-suppressed wages from 2014-2017. In the three years that followed, ‘Mystic Mac’ faced Floyd Mayweather, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Donald Cerrone.
For those fights, he is only expected to pocket a flat fee of $3,000.
“There’s no way you get an amount that small if fighters didn’t sign waivers, the very top guys,” UFC antitrust case expert Josh Nash said on the Hey Not The Face podcast. “So, you’re asking, does Conor McGregor get the money? He should get about 10 percent of whatever he earned in the [2017-2020] period. But, it seems very likely that he might get the amount that all the people that signed the waiver get, which is $3,000” (h/t MMA Mania).
Conor McGregor could opt out of his arbitration clause
As it stands, the UFC may be going back to the negotiating table, or possibly a trial, after Judge Boulware seemingly suggested that the $335 figure simply isn’t enough.
The UFC was initially accused of stiffing fighters out of as much as $1.6 billion with treble damages pushing the punishment for that up to as much as $4.8 billion. If the case ends up going to a jury trial, it could be a situation of big risk and big reward for the fighters involved.
Meanwhile, McGregor could potentially opt out of the 2017-2020 class so he can use the arbitration clause in his favor.
“It would cost him a lot of money,” Nash said. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars — perhaps even millions. Because you’d have to hire your own experts and do all the analysis and stuff the antitrust trial did again. But, go into arbitration, because truthfully, someone like McGregor, I think you could realistically make an argument that he’s owed $100 million by the UFC.
“If you’re really under a waiver, Conor McGregor and fighters like him, the very top guys — it’s it’s not financially possible for most fighters to do this,” Nash continued. “But, for the very top guys, I would think about opting out of the [2017-2020] class and going into arbitration.”
It’s hard to imagine McGregor taking that path which would likely burn some bridges with the UFC. But when millions of dollars are at stake, anything can happen.
