Conor McGregor has reportedly made "much lower" earnings from the UFC recently than previously claimed which could be around the "$15-$18 million" mark.
The Irish star is considered arguably the promotion's biggest superstar having featured in eight of the top ten best-selling pay-per-views in UFC history.
His superstar status has enabled him to generate huge wealth from his career in the octagon, having previously reigned as double-champion holding the belts in the featherweight and lightweight division simultaneously.
MMA journalist John Nash who holds expertise in fighter pay due to his extensive studies has spoken at length about McGregor's earnings.
"McGregor is probably the highest paid fighter," Nash told Luke Thomas. "There was actually information floating around on his contract before the Mayweather fight and I don't think it has changed that much.
"I have got a feeling he is not making as much as some people think, he is making a lot like in the teen bus I don't think it is $25- $30 million. My guess would be that he is making somewhere between $15-$18 million in that ball park.
"This one I know legally I can disclose for fact is that Brock Lesnar, first in the lawsuit it says $8 million was the highest pay cheque in the UFC ever which I confirmed was Brock Lesnar.
"He made $2.5 million from UFC 100 reported and a side-letter for $5.5 million. He was also the highest-paid UFC fighter ever up until some time in 2017."
It was previously claimed after the trilogy defeat to Dustin Poirier last year that McGregor had made around $20-$30 million after pay-per-view buys.
The Irishman boasted of the buys after the fight with the clash believed to have sold around 1.6 million pay-per-views.
He was also expected to have earned between $10-15 million for the initial rematch with Poirier which marked another significant wealth boost.
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McGregor was ranked as the third highest earner in combat sports history last year having reportedly generated around £36.4 million for the year placing behind Canelo Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather.
However this could be substantially lower according to Nash's findings despite the claims.
McGregor was named at the top of Forbes rich-list for last year having reportedly generated around $180 million for the year.
A larger $150 million portion of this came from the majority sale of his whiskey brand Proper Twelve to Proximo Spirits last year, with the rest of his earnings largely generated from competing in the UFC.
This ended up placing him above the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the final list for the year despite being limited to just two cage outings.
Throughout his mega-career McGregor has earned bumper purses during his time in the UFC.
However his largest purse is expected to have come in a mega crossover bout with Floyd Mayweather in 2017 which was expected to have changed his UFC contract.
McGregor is expected to have earned $100 million from the fight after the event sold around 4 million pay-per-views with his initial guaranteed purse confirmed as $30 million.
