Conor McGregor is set to bank $7 million from the proposed UFC antitrust settlement—but it should be a hell of a lot more.
In March, the UFC’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, reached a settlement deal to close the door on a pair of class-action lawsuits that accused the promotion of acting as a monopoly and limiting the earning potential for more than 1,200 fighters, including McGregor.
Of the $335 million settlement, the Irish megastar is expected to collect $7 million in return for illegally-suppressed wages between 2014 and 2017.
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In reality, McGregor could be entitled to a lot more than that had it not been for a highly questionable arbitration clause that was added to his contract at some point, preventing him from participating in class-action lawsuits.
Because of the clause, McGregor is only eligible to receive a flat $3,000 payout for 2017-2020, the years he fought Floyd Mayweather, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone.
“There’s no way you get an amount that small if fighters didn’t sign waivers, the very top guys,” UFC antitrust case expert John Nash said on the Hey Not The Face podcast. “So, you’re asking, does Conor McGregor get the money? He should get about 10 percent of whatever he earned in the [2017-2020] period. But, it seems very likely that he might get the amount that all the people that signed the waiver get, which is $3,000.”
Conor McGregor Could Opt Out and Go For Broke Against the UFC
However, McGregor could opt out of the 2017-2020 class altogether to use the arbitration clause in his favor, though doing so would be a big risk for the former two-division titleholder—not to mention he’d likely burn a lot of bridges with the UFC.
“It would cost him a lot of money,” Nash said. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars—perhaps even millions. Because you’d have to hire your own experts and do all the analysis and stuff the antitrust trial did again. But, go into arbitration, because truthfully, someone like McGregor, I think you could realistically make an argument that he’s owed $100 million by the UFC.
“If you’re really under a waiver, Conor McGregor and fighters like him, the very top guys — it’s it’s not financially possible for most fighters to do this,” Nash continued. “But, for the very top guys, I would think about opting out of the [2017-2020] class and going into arbitration.”
Of course, all of this hinges on whether or not Judge Richard F. Boulware signs off on the proposed $335 million settlement. Last week, reports revealed that Boulware was not entirely comfortable with the deal and is yet to make a final decision on whether or not he’ll accept it or deny it.
If denied, the UFC will either have to go back to the negotiating table with a much bigger number, or they’ll head to trial where 12 jurors will decide the UFC’s fate.
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