Last November, following his stunning second-round finish of Eddie Alvarez to become the first ever simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history, Conor McGregor immediately turned his attention to an even bigger goal.
To become a partner with the UFC rather than just another fighter under contract.
When the UFC sold last year for over $4 billion, the new owners at WME-IMG offered a small stake in the company to several notable celebrities, including talk show host Conan O’Brien and client/actor Mark Wahlberg.
McGregor stated that he wanted a piece of the pie as well, considering the millions upon millions of dollars he had generated since joining the UFC and he was looking to claim an ownership stake in the company.
It may have sounded crazy at the time, but UFC president Dana White now says that McGregor owning a part of the company isn’t off the table.
“It’s never been done but anything is possible,” White said ahead of McGregor’s bout with Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night. “There’s a lot of people who feel like they’re worth this and they’re worth that — we know what this kid’s worth.”
McGregor has already launched his own company — McGregor Sports and Entertainment — that will co-promote his fight on Saturday night with Mayweather.
Considering the gaudy amounts of money the fight will generate with pay-per-view sales rumored to exceed the all time record at 4.6 million buys, McGregor has certainly proven he’s the biggest draw in mixed martial arts history.
For his part, McGregor sounds confident that he’ll continue to climb up the ranks when it comes to his stake in the UFC considering he started on day one as a fighter on the prelims and now he’s about to engage in the most lucrative bout to ever take place in combat sports.
“It’s all about levels,” McGregor said. “You go from one level to the next level to the next level so I’ve been continually climbing up the ranks from fighting on the prelims to on the main card to in the main event to world titles to multiple world titles to co-promoting. We’re climbing levels.
“I have a great partnership with the people I’m involved with and let’s see where it goes but the sky is most certainly the limit.”
