How Conor McGregor Made $600 Million In A Sport Notorious For Its Low Pay
Huddle Up is a 3x weekly newsletter that breaks down the business and money behind sports. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up and join 100,000+ others who receive it directly in their inbox each week. Today At A Glance:Conor McGregor has earned more than $600 million throughout his career, despite the UFC paying out just 13% of its total revenue to fighters last year. So today’s newsletter breaks down how it happened, including McGregor’s journey to the top, his business philosophy, and an exclusive interview with his manager Audie Attar. This newsletter is also available via podcast on Apple or Spotify. Enjoy! Today’s Newsletter Is Brought To You By SoFi!
SoFi is the all-in-one finance app helping you bank, borrow, invest, and save. SoFi’s mission is to help members achieve financial independence and realize their ambition, all in one app. SoFi is transforming the industry and disrupting how the world sees personal finance, and it’s the single app you need to get your money right. I’m a SoFi member, and I love it. SoFi is legit, and they comply with the strict regulatory standards of the FDIC so you can be sure your money is safe. Friends, The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a uniquely complex case study. On the one hand, the UFC is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. They were acquired for $4 billion by Endeavor in 2016 and are now valued at $12.1 billion. They also have a $1.5 billion broadcasting deal with ESPN, and the company brought in nearly $400 million IN PROFIT last year alone — more than every other promoter (Bellator, Professional Fighters League (PFL), and Matchroom Boxing) combined. UFC Annual Revenue
UFC Annual Net Income (Profit)
“In other words, for every dollar [the UFC] sees in revenue, roughly 1/3 of it will end up as profit,” Bloody Elbow’s John S. Nash wrote earlier this month.
But not everyone at the UFC benefits as much as Dana White and its owners. Take the fighters, for example. Despite the UFC’s annual revenue increasing from $1.03 billion in 2021 to a record $1.14 billion in 2022, the percentage of revenue that the UFC paid to its fighters decreased year over year, from $178.8 million in 2021 to $146 million in 2022. UFC Total Payout To Fighters
That means the UFC now pays out just 13% of its annual revenue to fighters, significantly trailing every other major US professional sports league. Percentage of Annual Revenue Paid To Athletes By League
Yet Conor McGregor has defied the odds, building several $100 million-plus businesses and becoming one of the world’s highest-paid athletes.
Conor McGregor’s story resembles a Hollywood movie. You’ve probably heard it by now — a 12-year-old boy from Crumlin, Ireland, starts boxing after getting bullied at school, eventually discovering MMA and becoming the UFC’s first 2-division champ. But the real story is much more complex. For example, McGregor needed to start making money at age 17, so he settled for a job as a plumber. He would wake up at 5 am every morning, walk a few miles to the motorway, get picked up by a guy he didn’t even know to take him to the work site, and then spend 12 hours fixing toilets. McGregor hated it, of course. But not because of the back-breaking work or low pay; he hated it because it limited the time he could dedicate to training. So McGregor quit his job as a plumber, despite being thousands of dollars in debt and living at home with his parents. His girlfriend, Dee, started supporting the family, and McGregor collected welfare checks while earning pennies on the dollar to compete. “It wasn’t easy,” said McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh. “Conor was on the dole, earning €100 a fight and training at the height of winter in a cold gym. Now, I don’t care how passionate you are, but there are always going to be periods thinking ‘F**k this! What am I doing here?” But then Conor got his shot, signing with the UFC after five years on the regional circuit in Ireland and England. He earned just $16,000 for his first fight — $8,000 to show, $8,000 to win — but he also got a $60,000 bonus for winning KO of the night, and he earned more in one night ($76,000) than the previous five years combined (~$10,000). “This is the best moment (of my career) so far,” said McGregor in the post-event press conference. “I didn’t have money before this. I was collecting €188-a-week off the social welfare, and now here I am with a 60 G’s bonus and then my own pay.” And the rest is history. McGregor won nine of his first ten fights, earning more than $1 million in compensation. He then became the first UFC fighter to hold championship belts in two different weight classes (at the same time), and he ended 2017 with a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather that generated $600 million in revenue. Conor McGregor’s UFC Career Timeline
Now, Conor McGregor’s MMA career hasn’t been perfect. He was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0) at UFC 229. He lost two consecutive fights to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 and 264 and has only won one UFC fight since November 2016. And there have been problems outside the octagon, too. Like the time he was charged with three counts of felony assault after throwing a steel dolly through the window of a bus carrying Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as several other fighters and UFC staff. But still, if you can push the antics aside, the most impressive part of Conor McGregor’s career isn’t what he did in the octagon — it’s what he did outside it.
Conor McGregor’s unique personality and MMA success have helped him build a massive following, including 55 million followers on Instagram and Twitter alone. And he has earned millions of dollars in sponsorship deals, working with companies like DraftKings, Rolls-Royce, Reebok, Burger King, and Monster Energy. But rather than just solely collecting checks in exchange for the promotion of products, McGregor built a system around himself to maximize his influence. For example, before one of Conor McGregor’s fights in 2016, he was approached by a whiskey company that wanted to sign him to a sponsorship deal. But instead of signing the cash-based compensation deal, McGregor and his manager Audie Attar partnered with Ken Austin — the brains behind Avion Tequila and a legend in the spirits business — to launch Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey. The idea was simple: McGregor loved whiskey, and it was already part of his Irish identity. So rather than team up with an existing brand, why not partner with a world-class entrepreneur, use McGregor’s distribution to help market the business globally, and maintain favorable economics by owning a large share of the enterprise value? Well, that’s precisely what they did — and it worked. Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey would sell 200,000 cases in its first six months on the market, and McGregor, Attar, and Austin later sold 51% of the business in 2018 for an estimated $600 million. He has also started several other businesses, like the McGregor FAST training program, a plant-based therapy company called TIDL Sport, a clothing company called August McGregor, and he even owns a bar back home in Dublin, Ireland. Conor McGregor’s Businesses (Owned & Sold)
And these businesses have had a significant impact on his earnings. For example, according to Forbes, McGregor was the world’s highest-earning athlete in 2018, with $180 million in income. And he’s also currently the 33rd highest-earning athlete of all time, with $615 million in earnings — more than Magic Johnson, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Drew Brees, and Rory McIlroy. Conor McGregor’s Position on Forbes Highest-Paid Athletes List
So if you want to learn more about the business behind Conor McGregor, make sure to check out today’s podcast. The second half of the episode is an exclusive interview with Audie Attar. Audie is the founder of Paradigm Sports Management and has worked with McGregor for over a decade, negotiating his contracts, starting businesses together, and closing sponsorship deals. Listen, subscribe, and enjoy!
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