We knew the hype and money for Mayweather vs. McGregor was going to be big, but we didn’t have the context for just what that meant. Now we have an idea, and it’s staggering. Here are some facts about the combined $130M purse for the main event you might have missed.
Mayweather and McGregor got paid 70 times more than the 14 undercard fighters combined
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The rest of the card combined made just 1.42 percent of what Mayweather and McGregor did.
On Friday the Nevada State Athletic Commission released numbers on what each of the 16 fighters on the card would make on Saturday night.
If you total the purses from the other seven fights it amounts to $1.85M. On a normal night this would be fine, but with Mayweather and McGregor’s fight they made just 1.42 percent of what the total card brought in.
Conor McGregor made more in 36 minutes than he did his entire UFC career.
It took McGregor seven fights before he earned $1 million for a fight, let alone $30 million.
A common question before the fight people asked was “why would Conor agree to a fight knowing he would probably lose?” Because this was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime payday for a fighter who never had a chance at this kind of money.
Those fighters who made 1.42 percent of the purse? They had a combined 245 fights.
McGregor made his debut and earned 16 times what they all did combined. This from a fighter who had never stepped into a boxing ring for a bout before Saturday night.
Not bad work if you can get it.
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