“Started from the bottom, now I’m here!”
Conor McGregor quoted the ‘Six God’ himself during the second leg of the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour in Toronto, on Wednesday.
Canadian rapper Drake was in attendance as McGregor ran amok on the Budweiser stage in front of 20,000 MMA and boxing fans, with a big chunk of them of Irish descent.
Both McGregor and Drake have done well for themselves in recent years and, for the Dubliner, life is about to get even sweeter.
(VIDEO) Drake meets Conor McGregor backstage of the Toronto stop of the #MayMacWordTour. pic.twitter.com/Wh0DqlDgia
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) July 12, 2017
As Floyd Mayweather Jr, once again, mocked ‘The Notorious’ for only getting a fight purse of $3m for his UFC 205 win over Eddie Alvarez, McGregor laughed. He responded, “Not anymore!”
McGregor will earn a minimum of $50m from the August 26 bout and could earn $127m if it reaches the 4.4m pay-per-view mark set by Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio in 2015. Of course, with many predicting that this contest could attract five million PPVs, the 28-year-old could be set for life.
The pay-day will be added to by the sponsorship deals that McGregor and his team cut over the coming days and weeks, with a few already signed and sealed. McGregor told MMA Fighting:
“I might have a couple of sponsors. I’m actually sponsored by Budweiser – we’ve signed a deal with Budweiser – and we’re on the Budweiser Stage [in Toronto]. I’m very happy with that.
“We’ve got a couple of things in the works… Maybe Nike.
“Reebok; I was with Reebok previously. The deal has expired and we’re currently in negotiations but we are entering offers from multiple people. I’m just a free agent but, look, at the end of the day I’m in such a strong position here. I can chill and we’ll see what happens closer [to the fight].”
McGregor has been a Reebok athlete since July 2015 – not long after the sporting apparel company signed a $70m, six-year deal with the UFC – but the Mayweather bout falls outside of their purview. There has been talk – in UFC circles – that Reebok will not renew their contract when it expires but they may well be willing to stump up for this once-off event.
As a free agent, McGregor is not beholden to Reebok so a lot may depend on the relationship has had had with the company over the past two years.
A conservative estimate would be McGregor would receive over $1m to have his training, weigh-in, boxing shorts and boots sponsored for fight week. In reality, and given the excessive levels of hype and press coverage Mayweather-McGregor is getting, it could well pass $2m. Consider that Hublot paid Mayweather $1m to sponsor him ahead of that Pacquaio fight.
As Audie Attar, McGregor’s agent, said back in May, “If he signs with Nike, he can wear Nike for this fight.”
We’ve come a long way, baby.
