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Conor McGregor will pocket a guaranteed eight-figure fight purse for his UFC comeback against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.

The two-weight champion returns to the octagon after a two-year absence from MMA in a lightweight championship showdown with the reigning champion.

McGregor’s comeback is expected to set new UFC records for pay-per-view and revenue figures, with Dana White even suggesting it could do 3 million PPVs. McGregor’s new UFC deal guarantees him a ten figure purse, but if PPV trends continue as expected the fighter could collect as much as £38m ($50m).

The current UFC PPV record stands at 1.6m, a figure set by McGregor and Nate Diaz in their rematch in August 2016.




McGregor then moved into boxing, earning a rumoured £54m in total from his fight with Floyd Mayweather a year ago. There were fears in the MMA community that the 30-year-old would never return to the octagon after such an unprecedented payday.

But the fighter signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC in September, confirming this week his new salary would be over $10m.

McGregor pocketed insane money for fighting Mayweather (Picture: Getty)

‘My team and myself have done a lot of great work, and with the UFC, we’ve done a lot of good work,’ McGregor told ESPN.

SALARIES: NURMAGOMEDOV VS MCGREGOR MCGREGOR

UFC 205 – £2.76m ($3.59m)

UFC 202 – £2.96m ($3m)

UFC 194 – £385,000 ($500,000) NURMAGOMEDOV

UFC 223 – £408,000 ($530,000)

UFC 219 – £123,000 ($160,000)

UFC 205 – £43, 915 ($57,000)

‘It’s give or take [nine figures]. The Mayweather fight was nine figures but we’re almost there, it’s a good, solid eight figures; halfway there.

‘We’re all very happy with where we’re at. It’s not what the Mayweather fight was but it’s a good halfway there.’

UFC US PAY-PER-VIEW RECORD UFC 202 – 1,600,000 buys* UFC 196 – 1,317,000 buys* UFC 205 – 1,300,000 buys* UFC 100 – 1,300,000 buys UFC 194 – 1,200,000 buys* *McGregor fight night

The the final press conference McGregor claimed he would earn £38m ($50m) if the PPV figures perform as he expected them to.

‘We’re estimating around 3m to 3.5m (pay-per-view buys), I’d say I’ll close in around the $50m mark,’ McGregor said.

‘So for a mixed martial artist – to make $50m in a mixed martial arts bout, it’s quite breathtaking.’

McGregor pocketed a guaranteed fight purse of £23m from the Mayweather clash, an incredible increase on the most he has ever earned in a UFC fight.

Nurmagomedov welcomes McGregor back into the octagon (Picture: Getty)

The UFC paid McGregor a record salary of £2.8m for his last outing in the octagon against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, a slight increase on the £2.3m the fighter got for rematching Diaz in his previous fight.

One question levelled at White in the aftermath of Mayweather-McGregor was how could the UFC possibly afford to bring McGregor back into MMA. McGregor dismissed this narrative as an over-simplication, insisting he was eager to compete again and money was not the motivating factor.

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Nurmagomedov is also set for a healthy pay day, after seeing his salary sky rocket in his last fight. The Russian earned almost £300,000 more for fighting Al Iaquinta in April than he did for his previous fight last December.

The gate is also a pivotal factor in McGregor’s earnings, and White expects that to come close to their record of $17.7m.



‘The gate is going to be $17m,’White said. ‘There are going to be celebrities like you’ve never seen. I knew this was going to be massive, but it’s even blowing me away what this is doing.

MORE: Conor McGregor predicts he will turn Khabib Nurmagomedov into a bobblehead at UFC 229