Dana White continues to say Conor McGregor won’t be receiving any equity in the UFC, and Artem Lobov believes if anyone deserves shares in the promotion, it’s his longtime buddy.
McGregor relayed in the past that he believes he deserves an ownership stake in the UFC. Then, when it was reported McGregor wouldn’t agree to take a non-headlining fight, the star said he would, provided he received shares in the UFC.
Then, of course, McGregor shocked the MMA world by announcing he was retiring. The announcement prompted many to speculate it’s a negotiating tactic, and that shares in the company are at the core of the disagreement.
Well, McGregor’s training partner, the aforementioned Lobov, appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show recently. While discussing McGregor’s demands, the Russian fighter said this (quote via MMA Fighting):
“The thing is, it’s a business,” said Lobov. “They’re fighting for every percentage there because when it comes down to Conor’s fights, even one percent means millions and millions and millions. In my eyes, of course he deserves a percentage of the UFC. His last fight was two and half million and that same year there was a pay-per-view card with 80,000 PPVs sold. That speaks for itself. He is the reason why the company was sold for $4 billion so why shouldn’t he get a piece of that?
“For anybody who says, ‘Then everyone will ask for that,’ no they won’t, because you tell them, ‘Show me your numbers. Show me what you bring in.’ You get a piece of the pie that you bring in. If you arrive with a bag of peanuts, then you can’t expect to eat a steak. But if you are killing a whole deer like Conor is then of course you deserve a nice, juicy piece of steak and he should get it.”
Few could argue that from a financial perspective, if the UFC was going to start handing out ownership stakes as part of fighter compensation, McGregor deserves it. But, it appears as though McGregor will need to put up money he’s already earned, if he wants to have shares in the promotion. The question is, will the parties be able to get past this issue? Or is McGregor’s fighting career truly done?
On that note, Lobov also said that he believes McGregor will fight again, due to his passion for the game. “The Russian Hammer”, meanwhile, is preparting to fight Jason Knight at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s April 20th card.
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