Love him or hate him, but you can’t ignore Conor McGregor. The 33-year-old MMA athlete was in the news recently, after he expressed an interest in buying the Chelsea Football Club.
I wish to explore this. @ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/ABEjjCqhD7
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 2, 2022
Recently, the current owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, was under intense scrutiny due to his alleged ties with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The billionaire released a statement yesterday announcing his decision to sell the club. The asking price? An eye-watering £3billion.
Also Read: Chelsea Handover: Revisiting Owner Roman Abramovich’s Net Worth
While there are confirmed reports of a Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, preparing a bid for the club, it was Conor McGregor’s tweet that sent the internet into a frenzy. This is not the first time, Conor has expressed his interest in investing in a premier league club. Last year, the pro tweeted this:
Hey guys, I’m thinking about buying Manchester United!
What do you think?— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 20, 2021
That said, can “The Notorious” actually afford to make a serious bid? Let’s find out.
Despite suffering a defeat in his last fight, McGregor is still the most popular UFC athlete of all time, selling four of the top-five biggest-selling pay-per-view fights in UFC’s history.
Of course, this has earned him enough chunk of change. For instance, the fight against Mayweather is said to have earned him around $100million. Similarly, the Irish national is believed to earn around £20-£25m for each fight with his base pay making up around £5m. This is excluding his share from the PPV sales.
Conor was ranked as the world’s highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2021, after earning a whopping $180 million. He came fourth in the same list in 2018, with a reported income of $99 million.
Not to mention, the sale of his whisky brand ‘Proper 12’ is said to earn him $150m last year, claiming to make “upwards of $700m that deal is over the coming years.”
But along with his future fights and current endorsement deals, the Irishman’s net worth is still said to be around $300 million, and that puts him way off Abramovich’s asking price. Unless Conor arranges for a consortium of buyers to invest with him, we do not see Abramovich entertaining any realistic bids from the MMA fighter.
