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UFC Star Conor McGregor Out-Earned Billionaire Michael Jordan’s Entire Career Earnings, Worth Around $100 Million, in a Fight That He Lost

Published 09/25/2022, 11:15 AM EDT

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Conor McGregor is the ‘money fight’ in MMA and Floyd Mayweather Jr is the ‘money fight’ in boxing. When these two behemoths collided, it turned out to be one of the biggest and most successful box office fights in the history of combat sports.

The fight did the second-highest PPV numbers with 4.3 million. (first being Mayweather vs Pacquiao at 4.6 million). The pair bagged massive paydays from the bout. Moreover, it was reported that Conor McGregor took 30 million dollars before the fight. However, he ended up making almost $100 million after the pay-per-view cut. 

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Furthermore, Mayweather cashed in around $275 million from the bout. After making a heavy fortune, the boxer announced his retirement from professional boxing.

Conor McGregor and Michael Jordan comparison

From that one single fight, McGregor surpassed the earnings of major athletes, the most notable being Michael Jordan’s. Throughout Jordan’s career, he made a total of $94 million in salary while he was in the NBA. 

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Notwithstanding, the fact that Conor McGregor surpassed the entire career earnings of the NBA legend with one fight. Moreover, the notorious made that ground-breaking amount despite losing the bout. 

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Even Conor McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, once compared The Notorious to Michael Jordan. Kavanagh took to his Twitter and wrote, At age 31 Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the 1993–94 NBA season, he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season.”

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While the comparison talked about how Jordan, despite announcing retirement, came back and won trophies. McGregor, however, failed in his comeback fight against Dustin Poirier.

The origin of the Money Fight

The fight came about when the Irishman shifted his focus to boxing after having conquered both the featherweight and the lightweight divisions. The Notorious had cemented himself as the biggest star in the promotion by becoming the first double champ in the history of the UFC.

The talks between him and Mayweather boxing were brewing in the media before they ultimately announced it.

The fight was heavily promoted, and the UFC backed up Conor McGregor for the fight. Moreover, Dana accompanied Conor McGregor throughout the press tours. 

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The UFC champ fought against ‘pretty boy’ on August 26, 2017, inside the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada. They scheduled it for 12 rounds. However, after a good start, McGregor gassed in the later rounds. Thus he lost the fight via TKO in the 10th round.

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Talks of them re-matching this year again came out after Mayweather talked about it in an interview. However, McGregor declined the offer with a post on his social media.

WATCH THIS STORY: Conor McGregor: Best Moments of the UFC Star from The Ultimate Fighter

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Written by:

Afshan Khan

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Afshan Khan is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. After completing his graduation in Mass Communication, Afshan pursued his passion for sports, especially MMA, and transcended it into his profession. He has been following the sport for the past 6 years, and with his nuanced knowledge and his content, wants to attract more fans to the various mixed martial arts promotions around the globe.
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Edited by:

Sreeda U M