The amount of money some UFC fighters get can be eye-watering at times. For UFC 197, headliner Jon Jones reportedly earned $500,000 for beating George St. Pierre. McGregor himself earned $1 million before bonuses in his loss to Nate Diaz.
But the figure that McGregor walked away from by not fighting in UFC 200 was significantly more than that. In fact, it was double that - at $10 million. That's according to UFC referee John McCarthy.
Speaking on Sean Wheelock's Let Get It On MMA Podcast, McCarthy revealed that UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told him how much the Dubliner was set to earn in a conversation that took place at UFC 197:
I talked to Lorenzo Fertitta at UFC 197 standing in the back and we started talking. And he said, 'I never thought that when I had a guy guaranteed $10 million I would have a problem.' If you don't think $10 million is a lot of money to make for a fight, you are crazy. That is life changing money.
That $10 million might not be $10 million the next time he fights because it's not UFC 200.
There's not much I wouldn't do for $10 million, but a few press conference - as scary as public speaking is - would certainly be one of them.
See Also: The Figures That Really Go To Show How Much The UFC Stand To Miss Out On
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