A lot of the conversation around the first season of the Professional Fighters League is the $1 million prize waiting for its winners. But, as hefty as that sum might look at first glance, middleweight Louis Taylor won’t let himself get dazzled by it.

“I mean, it’s not really that much money, to be honest,” Taylor told MMAjunkie Radio. “Seriously, if you’re like, ‘$1 million,’ it sounds good, but it’s not that much money. It’s not. You can go broke in a year or two, if you’re not smart.”

Which is not to say that Taylor (14-4), who meets Anderson Goncalves (11-1) at PFL 3 this Thursday, wouldn’t appreciate the money. He might go on a vacation with it, perhaps get himself a Jeep. But, other than that, don’t expect Taylor to get too crazy with what he sees as more a solid beginning than a solution to all his problems.

“Now, you have the money to invest in yourself and your family,” Taylor said. “And if you fail, you won’t be broke or in debt. You still have a little bit more to try again. It gives me the ability to chase new dreams after MMA. But, spending-wise, it’s just start-up money.

“Because I’ve got to take this $1 mil and turn it into $4 mil. Take that $4 mil, turn it into $16… Until I can flip this mil, this mil ain’t nothing. But it will give me the opportunity to flip it.”

In any case, thinking of uses to the money is moot unless Taylor actually earns it – starting with Thursday’s Facebook-streamed PFL 3 preliminary card bout at Charles E. Smith Center in Washington D.C.

“First of all, my goal is to go 5-0 and to get through each opponent, one by one,” Taylor said. “The $1 million is just a payday and then, after taxes, you’re still going to end up with probably like $125,000 per fight. So that’s the way I’m looking at it: Each fight gets me closer to $125,000 per fight.”

Of course, the money isn’t the only thing that makes PFL’s format unique compared with the current landscape in MMA. Should Taylor score enough points in his two regular season fights, which consider both outcome and the manner with which a fight ended, he gets to move forward to the playoffs. Then, he might experience something that wasn’t uncommon in early-days MMA: Fighting twice in one night.

As a longtime wrestler, though, Taylor is no stranger to fighting twice, thrice, or even four times in a single occasion, so that bit is covered.

“Once you’re in there, it goes really fast anyway,” Taylor said. “You go, you take a nap, you go to work. So that’s not going to change much.”

He does have his concerns, however, about another one of PFL’s rules: No elbow strikes. The rule, ex-fighter and commentator Yves Edwards explained to MMAjunkie Radio, looks to increase longevity in a format that involves not just a fight, but a whole season of them.

Taylor, on his end, understands why you’d want to limit the elbows being thrown to faces. The fact they’re not allowed on the body, though, is his hang-up.

“Because, in grounding and pounding, elbows is just a big thing,” Taylor said. “And I understand not throwing them to the head, for injury reasons. But not to the body. If I hit you with an elbow to the body, it will open up your face. On the ground, it kind of ties things up, makes it more different. So I’m going to have to experience that for the first time.”

Either way, after seeing some his fellow WSOF veterans migrating to other promotions as he awaited its re-branding into PFL, Taylor is just ready to snap an almost year-long layoff.

He gets to do that against Goncalves – a promotional newcomer who brings in a 10-fight winning streak into the cage. Goncalves has contested all but two of his professional MMA bouts in his native Brazil, but comes off two international outings: first in China, then in Spain.

Other than his record, Taylor doesn’t know much about his opponent. But, somewhat used to PFL’s multi-national roster, he’s never been one to rely much on tape, anyway.

“Most of the foreign guys, they’re bringing over pretty solid records on paper but we don’t know who they fought, really,” Taylor said. “So, there’s that big question mark. On top of that, 80 percent of the footage, you can’t even find anyway, because they’re lost somewhere in the jungles of Brazil.

“So I can’t worry about that. I’ve got just to get ready to take out each opponent, one by one.”

For more on PFL 3, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Dan Tom. For more information or to download past episodes, go towww.mmajunkie.com/radio.