Conor McGregor's true UFC earnings are much lower than what's previously been claimed

Conor McGregor is obviously one of the UFC’s biggest ever stars.

The ‘Notorious’ Irishman infamously won the featherweight championship from Jose Aldo on December 12, 2015. He was able to overcome the Brazilian through persistent mind games and, once the fight began, it only took 13 seconds for him to win via knockout.

Not only that, he added the lightweight title to his collection by defeating Eddie Alvarez on November 13, 2016. He also ventured into boxing to battle Floyd Mayweather, who many consider the greatest ever, though, McGregor ended up on the losing side.

So, with all that achieved, you’d expect McGregor to have taken home a few pretty hefty purses during his Octagon run, to put it lightly.

McGregor has featured in eight of the top 10 best-selling pay-per-views in UFC history, so this does, of course, come with a heavy financial boost, but some are saying that his earnings may not be as high as previously claimed.

MMA journalist John Nash, who is a specialist in fighter pay, talked to Luke Thomas about the Irishman’s earnings.

“McGregor is probably the highest-paid fighter, there was actually information floating around on his contract before the Mayweather fight and I don’t think it has changed that much.

“I have a feeling he is not making as much as some people think, I don’t think it’s $25-30 million. My guess would be that he is making somewhere between $15-18 million in that ball park.”

Nash feels like he can back this up by using the example of one of wrestling’s biggest UFC crossovers Brock Lesnar.

“The one I know I can legally disclose for fact is that of Brock Lesnar, first in the lawsuit it says $8 million was the highest pay cheque in the UFC ever which I confirmed was Brock Lesnar.

“He made