The UFC Has Made 3.9 Billion in PPV in 13 Years. Conor Brought in $516 Million in 7 Tournaments
McGregor has received 10 bonuses of the evening, two belts of different categories, worldwide fame, and wealth for 7 years of his career. The athlete showed that even in an unpopular (at that time) sport, you can make good money thanks to unrealistic dedication inside and outside the cage.
The Irishman has become a goldmine of the UFC, and one of those who try to play the show, thus generating a significant portion of the promotion’s profits over the past 6 years. Therefore, he became the only one who takes the massive percentages from the giant organization. In this review, we analyze Conor’s career in monetary terms.
McGregor Became a Millionaire in Just 6 Fights — UFC Revenue Increased Several Times
Conor made his name in the first fight, knocking out Marcus Brimage on FUEL TV 9 in 67 seconds. The handsome knockout was encouraged by 50 thousand dollars from Dana White — the first big money in the life of an Irishman (total — ,000). Then McGregor realized how it works: before the fights, he showed the show.
In the next fight, Conor defeated Max Holloway by unanimous decision, receiving about the same amount without a bonus for a daring image and fiery speeches at press conferences. Then something happened and shocked the audience: a rookie with two fights took the lead in UFC Fight Night 46.
Then the promotion tested the potential of the Irishman, looking at the views of tournaments with his name. In his favorite daring manner, the athlete managed to promote the fight to 290 thousand viewers in the broadcast. These were huge numbers that only guys like John Jones, Jose Aldo, or Ronda Rousey could get at that time. After the fight with Diego Brandao, Conor received 82 thousand dollars ($16,000 for the duel and a $50,000 bonus for the performance of the evening).
Afterward, the Irishman defeated Dustin Poirier and again led the tournament — UFC Fight Night 59. In the main battle, McGregor knocked out Dennis Siver and received $220 thousand in royalties.
The next fight was against Aldo at UFC 189, but the Brazilian canceled the duel due to injury and was replaced by Chad Mendes. This did not stop Conor from earning $3.05 million (!) (37 million UFC). This was the first tournament for which Conor received a percentage of PPV (paid streaming purchases).
PPV Percentage of Notable Fighters in the First 15 Years of UFC
The percentage of PPV in the UFC for the first 15 years was calculated in the same way:
- Less than 100,000 broadcast purchases: no bonus;
- 100,000-175,000: $1 per purchase;
- 175,000-300,000: $1.50;
- 300,000-330,000: $2;
- Over 330,000: $3 (then monthly subscription cost $44.99).
The information was available after they merged the contract of Randy Couture, who was then suing the UFC just because of payments. Six months later, at UFC 194, Conor knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds, becoming the featherweight champion and multimillionaire: $590,000 in royalties and $3.6 million with PPV (total: $4,190,000). By the way, the sports organization then earned around $54 million from subscriptions. Previously, this amount was received only once: in 2010, when broadcasting the duel of Brock Lesnar against Shane Karvin.
Conclusion
Based on the above, it is just obvious that Conor is a goldmine. Previously, the promotion has been earning about $3.9 billion in broadcast sales over 13 years and 193 tournaments. And with Conor, their fortune increased by $516 million and now amounts to almost $4.5 billion. This amount reflects paid broadcasts only. It turns out that one person earned 11.9% of the revenue for the giant company while selling 9.9 million PPV. It is a colossal result, agree?
