Conor McGregor Net Worth: UFC Fighter Expects Earnings To Make Him A Billionaire In Five Years

Already one of the world’s highest-paid athletes, Conor McGregor is confident that he’s only in the beginning stages of his financial success. The MMA star made a bold prediction regarding his future net worth at Thursday’s UFC 229 press conference.

With McGregor set to earn a record payday for Saturday’s UFC lightweight championship fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, he was asked how long it would take for him to become a billionaire.

“I’m 30 years of age – I’d say by 35,” McGregor said.

Forbes has estimated that McGregor made $99 million in 2017. Approximately $85 million of that came from the Irish fighter’s boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, which generated 4.4 million pay-per-view buys for the second-highest selling event in history. McGregor was guaranteed a $30 million paycheck before taking home a portion of the fight’s revenue.

For his first UFC fight in nearly two years, McGregor estimated Thursday that he stands to make close to $50 million. That figure is based on projections by the UFC that Saturday’s PPV could sell somewhere between three million and 3.5 million buys. Doing so would nearly double the previous record for a UFC PPV.

McGregor headlined three UFC PPVs in 2016. His largest guaranteed purse was just $3 million, though Forbes estimated that McGregor earned $27 million total for the three fights, in addition to his $7 million in endorsements that year. UFC 196, UFC 202 and UFC 205 all rank among the four-best selling PPVs in UFC history, all generating well over one million buys.

If McGregor wants to earn 10 figures, a large portion of his money will have to come away from the octagon. It took Mayweather 21 years for his career earnings to finally reach $1 billion, making more than $200 million for multiple fights.

McGregor does have lucrative endorsements, and his latest venture could turn out to be a big money-maker. The fighter launched his own whiskey, Proper No.12, just a few weeks before his fight with Nurmagomedov. Proper No.12 is an official sponsor of UFC 229.

“The last thing he needs to worry about is his check,” UFC president Dana White told TMZ. “The whiskey thing is probably going to make this kid a billion dollars. They can’t keep his Proper 12 whiskey, they can’t keep it off the shelves. It’s flying off the shelves. All the casinos around here are not only serving it, selling it. He’s killing it and good for him.”

After McGregor made close to nine figures for his first professional boxing match, White admitted that he didn’t know if the biggest MMA star of all time would ever return to the octagon. That is clearly no longer a question, and McGregor recently signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC.

“The deal I’m on now, it’s breathtaking what we have achieved,” McGregor told The Ariel Helwani MMA Show (via MMA Mania). “It’s a tasty, tasty, record-breaking deal. It’s give or take [nine figures]. The Mayweather [fight] was nine figures but we’re almost there. It’s a good, solid eight figures, halfway there. We’re very happy with the deal.”

McGregor is 9-1 in his UFC career. He’s looking to become a champion for the third time Saturday.