Surging UFC featherweight contender Conor McGregor has a chance to prove he’s truly an elite talent at UFC 178 when he squares off with perennial contender Dustin Poirier.
Although the event is headlined by a long-awaited light heavyweight championship rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, “The Notorious” warns the 205-pound titleholder he’s going to make his paycheck for the event a little lighter than usual.
Tell Jon I’m taking a cut of his PPV.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 22, 2014
According to MMA Payout, the O2 in McGregor‘s homeland of Dublin, Ireland did a whopping 9,500-person gate and raked in $1.4 million.
While the fighter salaries from the event haven’t been released yet, it seems safe to say that McGregor will be making a nice chunk of change at this next Octagon outing based on the amazing turnout his previous bout turned in.
In the UFC, it is not uncommon for big draws to get a cut of the pay-per-view points the event sells, and obviously McGregor now wants his piece of the pie.
His grudge match with Poirier is rumored to be the co-main event of UFC 178, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the UFC has yet to confirm that.
Barring any injuries, the September 27 card looks to be a stellar one.
Other matchups finalized for the card include a pivotal women’s bantamweight scrap between Cat Zingano vs. Amanda Nunes, a middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero and the return of ex-bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz against Takeya Mizugaki.
In the event that McGregor vs. Poirier goes down as planned, does the Irish sensation deserve some additional compensation for competing at the event—win or lose?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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