UFC legend Daniel Cormier has revealed the "hidden" purses earned by Conor McGregor, Israel Adesanya and Khabib Nurmagomedov in their biggest fights.
The former two-division world champion had a few mega-fights of his own, but none that ever would have made him the astronomical numbers McGregor has boasted throughout his career. However, as a ex-world champion, Cormier is aware of the promotion's pay structure at the highest level, and what amounts McGregor or someone like Adesanya make for their main event bouts.
He claims that Adesanya is making in the region of $6million as a base purse, which would be disclosed if he were to fight in a State like California where payouts are made public. As of the summer of 2020, the state of Nevada which hosts most major fights in and out of the UFC have stopped disclosing purses, meaning it's more difficult to gauge if Cormier's information is accurate.
"Izzy [Adesanya] is making between $5-7million," Cormier told The Pivot podcast during a recent appearance. "Khabib probably made $10m. Conor [McGregor] makes probably $15-20m base. You walk into the ring, you get paid and guess when you paid? In the locker room, you walk back and they give you a cheque. It could be $3-4m, maybe $5m. Whatever it is they give it to you."
Cormier appreciated during his career that he was given payments beyond the disclosed number, given that he came from Lafayette, Louisiana where the annual household income was a fraction of his average fight purses. Cormier gave the example of a $500,000 disclosed amount, which is nearly ten times the 2020 annual household income of $54,139 in his hometown.
"They try to protect the athlete a little bit by not showing exactly what you make," he explained, before detailing that where he's from people would see the amounts on paper without factoring in other amounts or possible cuts. "But in Louisiana people see $500,000 they think you're rich."
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Cormier also detailed how fighters are given a percentage of the pay-per-view buys, which increases given their individual contracts and the amount that are sold. For example, McGregor's contract is likely very different to Adesanya's, whose is different to many other champions in the promotion.
"A lot of it's hidden," he continued. "But when you're the champion you also make money on the pay-per-view side. So if you become a guy like Conor, like Jones, like Izzy, you start selling pay-per-views, man you get $2 a buy, $3 a buy, $4 a buy and that money really starts adding up."
Cormier has retired into a commentary position with the promotion after a legendary career where he was a two-time light-heavyweight champion and a heavyweight champion who defended his title on two occasions. He had an iconic trilogy with Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title in his later career, as well as two infamous showdowns with his arch nemesis Jon Jones.
