Khabib Nurmagamedov Stands to Make the Biggest Payday of His Life if He Fights Conor McGregor…
Any casual Conor McGregor fan will know about ‘red panty nights’ by now. It’s very true though: fighting the Notorious is the most lucrative move in any MMA fighter’s career. That’s exactly why Nate Diaz hasn’t returned to the UFC. He’s waiting for the trilogy fight because he doesn’t want to imperil his financial position. It’s that simple.
The Irishman is likely to fight Khabib Nurmagamedov this coming October 6, or November 10, at UFC 229 or 230. They haven’t signed off on it just yet, but it’s coming close. McGregor personally told TMZ yesterday that they’re reaching final stages of negotiations.
While McGregor’s purse demands will surely be record-breaking for a UFC fighter, the promotion will probably bend to his wishes. More complicated is Khabib Nurmagamedov. He knows what he wants: a cool $10 million. Will he get it?
Massive Demands
Realistically McGregor is going to make about $50 million from his return. Of course, he is, it wouldn’t be worth his while coming back otherwise. Now compare that to Khabib’s last purse. At UFC 223, he walked away with $530,000, excluding sponsorships. Manager Ali Abdelaziz insists that his demands are not crazy. He told a UFC media lunch:
“We will get a deal done. Trust me. My relationship with Dana, Hunter, Sean, Mick. I have a different relationship. I’m not gonna overplay my hand and they need to be fair. There’s no way in hell Nate Diaz can make more money than Khabib. There’s no way in hell. He’s the undefeated, undisputed lightweight champion of the world. That’s it.”
While he has a point – Khabib is all of that – he omits one massive detail. People don’t know who the Eagle is. Diaz rear naked choked his way into the public eye by beating McGregor. He was able to demand much more money from his second fight.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl6FivBA2vb/?hl=en&taken-by=thenotoriousmma
Fair is Fair
Abdelaziz recognizes that it is all about money – that’s the most attractive thing about fighting McGregor. It will literally change your life. He believes that it takes two to tango and that Khabib is the perfect dance partner for the Notorious.
“If you want to make this fight happen, it’s about money,” Abdelaziz said. “It’s not about who’s the champion, the rankings — none of this stuff. It’s about money. Khabib wants to kick his ass, I want to see it, but at the end of the day, if Conor fights it’s business.”
“I’m not a greedy guy. Go ahead and make $100 million. If Khabib can make $10 million, I’m happy. At the end of the day, it’s not just somebody I manage. It’s my little brother, too. It’s not, ‘I’m gonna fight for him, I’m gonna get you this deal.’ It’s what he deserves. I don’t want anything extra than what he deserves. That’s it. I believe he’s one of the biggest stars in the UFC today.”
Risk
This is a massive risk on the part of the UFC. Notorious for underpaying their fighters, this is going to savagely break their payment structure. It’s definitely worth it in the short term, but will it come back to haunt them in the future when fighters demand more money? We can only wait and see.
Anyway, fans don’t care about that. All they want is to see the two of them step into the octagon and rain down carnage upon each other. It’s really not that complicated guys, so if you’d just sign the contract…
