Conor McGregor wanted one major thing when he sat down with the media after his second world title win, and almost a decade later he’s giving it to his fighters.
When the Irishman defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title at UFC 205, his history-making performance was so rather more groundbreaking than might have been expected. Inside months the UFC had sold for $4billion to WME-IMG, and his profession as a top fighter never returned to those heights.
On the time, he demanded equity in the corporate, knowing that he was a large player in getting it to the purpose of that monster valuation. And he’s now putting his money where his mouth is, offering fighters the prospect to own a component of his promotion; BKFC.
Conor McGregor offers part ownership to BKFC champions
Watching BKFC’s massive and at times overcrowded press conference on Thursday night, one may very well be forgiven for missing among the many announcements peppered in by owners David Feldman and Conor McGregor.
From latest signings like Yoel Romero and Derek Brunson to international shows within the UK and Rome, there was a seemingly never-ending list of breaking news stories from the duo.
But perhaps probably the most impactful got here when Feldman opened up about a substitute for the promotion’s plan to implement a pension for fighters. He had first announced the thought years ago, but admitted it was a struggle to make it occur.
As an alternative, the choice that he and McGregor got here up with was to supply any BKFC champions and long-tenured fighters a chunk of equity within the promotion itself. He valued the potential ownership shares at anywhere from $100,000 to $3million for the longest-serving champions.
“Do you understand how incredible that’s for our combatants to be rewarded in that way?” McGregor asked the gathered crowd. “To affix this rise truly, truly be on the board with us as we stand up this ladder of combat sport.”
Conor McGregor pleaded for UFC equity after helping company to $4billion sale
Back in 2016 after his win over Alvarez, the post-fight press conference at Madison Square Garden was stuffed with questions on McGregor’s future within the cage. He had just won two world titles in lower than a yr and had brought the game back to Recent York City, where it was banned for therefore a few years.
“They’ve got to come back refer to me now because no one has come and talked to me because the sale has happened,” he told media on the time. “As a business man I’ve been approached as a ‘hello’ and that form of thing but I’ve earned something.
“Who owns the corporate now? People have shares in the corporate, celebrities. Conan O’Brien owns the UFC now so where’s my share? Where’s my equity? If I’m the one which’s bringing this, they’ve got to come back refer to me now.
“I’ve got each belts, a piece of cash, a bit of family on the way in which. You wish me to stay around, you wish me to maintain doing what I’m doing? Let’s talk, but I would like ownership now, I would like equal share, I would like what I deserve, what I’ve earned.”
It’s clear that the actual fact such a proposal never got here still affects McGregor greatly to at the present time. He touched on it briefly throughout the press conference, noting that he felt he ‘got nothing’ from the UFC even despite his multiple eight-figure paydays and large celebrity status.
“For me, I fought my heart and soul and gave all the pieces to the rise of an organization and I got nothing for it,” he said. “Now here we’re, our company, my company, we give back to the fighters who bleed for us. So welcome to the owners’ table our world champions and our UK champions, we’re on this endlessly.”