UFC News: Details of Khabib's UFC 242 pay-day revealed
Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to receive the biggest pay-day of his career so far this weekend at UFC 242 according to his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.
Abdulmanap acts as Khabib's manager, and in a recent statement he made to the Russian news outlet TASS, he revealed that his son is set to make in excess of $6,000,000 for his fight against Dustin Poirier this weekend.
“We will make 3 to 3.5 [times] more [than the McGregor fight]. We aren’t fighting for a small change – we know what we worth. It is not enough for us, because we are the best now. We have beaten the best, and we are ready to fight the best. We are popular – we know that. When we enter the arena, you will see the reaction to us, and reaction to Poirier.” (Transcript and translation courtesy of MMAJunkie)
The McGregor Purse
After the controversial events at UFC 229, it was disclosed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that Khabib was paid $2,000,000 up-front for the fight with bonuses coming from the huge PPV numbers. Meanwhile, McGregor was paid $3,000,000 plus bonuses.
If Khabib's father is to be believed, the Dagestani fighter is earning more than double what McGregor was paid for his last appearance, which goes to show just how highly his star-power is valued by the UFC.
UFC 242
Khabib will step into the cage with Dustin Poirier this weekend to defend his lightweight championship in the main event of UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi.
The UFC is yet to officially reveal how much each fighter is getting paid for their appearance at the event, but it will be interesting to see if Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov's claims that Khabib is now the most valuable fighter on the active UFC roster are proved to be accurate.