Former UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell blames Conor McGregor for UFC athletes having low pay. He believes the UFC will learn from their “mistake” by paying McGregor a huge sum of money.
Conor McGregor is undoubtedly the biggest MMA star in the world. ‘The Notorious’ is the first UFC double champion. A lot of MMA fans also love his villainous character and off-the-line trash talk. McGregor is a big draw and always generates a high number of PPV.
His biggest outing was when he faced Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight belt at UFC 229 in 2018. The event broke records and is to date the event with most PPV buys in the UFC until now. McGregor is reportedly taking home dozens of million of dollars.
Many mixed martial artists are surely wishing for a better income. However, former UFC heavyweight top contender Ben Rothwell is highly in doubt that it will ever happen again. During a recent talk with interview, the 41-year-old explained how the promotion will find a way to keep athletes’ payment on minimum.
“Maybe for Conor McGregor and Conor makes a special deal at a special contract, but I’m pretty sure the UFC, after what they went through with him, are never gonna let that happen again. Be a wild man, being crazy, making the demands, getting the crazy pays that he got.”
“They don’t want that. Anything that hurts the pocketbook… The s*it’s gonna come to a stop with that. That means fighters are gonna suffer. It means fighters aren’t gonna get what they deserve.” Rothwell said.
The UFC is known for underpaying their athletes. Most UFC athletes who aren’t household names make between $10,000 to $30,000, while champions end up making big money because they’re entitled to a fraction of the PPV money. This is a factor Eric Nicksick recently pointed to as another reason why Ngannou chose free agency.
But contrary to Rothwell’s beliefs, McGregor isn’t the best paid athlete on the roster. Biggest verified contract belonged to the man who helped broker the 2020 deal to have UFC events in Abu Dhabi.