It seems pretty clear that Donald Cerrone is not going to make anywhere near the $80 million Conor McGregor is claiming, he’ll take home on Saturday night. But, while Cowboy” has let it be known he’s happy for McGregor, he’s also hoping the star throws him just a bit of that cash…

Cerrone responds to McGregor’s earnings claim

McGregor recently sat down with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, and the two covered various issues in the interview. At one point, however, Helwani asked McGregor how much money he’s going to make for his fight this Saturday with Cerrone. The former UFC lightweight and featherweight champ claimed around $80 million.

Well, since that’s a jaw-dropping figure, Cerrone was asked to comment on McGregor’s claim. Here’s what “Cowboy” had to say (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“Hey man, (expletive) good for you,” Cerrone said. “Good for you. If you want to kick ‘Cowboy’ a little bit of that, a percentage would be even cooler. Like I said, if that’s a real number? (Expletive) right on, man.

“That means I did something right and he did something right and we’re selling a hell of a fight. Right on, man. Good for you. Throw ‘Cowboy’ a little bit of that grease when you’re done.”

Now, if you’ve followed Cerrone over the years, the response is pretty typical for the gracious, New Mexico star. Further, Cerrone’s not the only person who has questioned whether McGregor’s figure is accurate. A key reason being that McGregor’s believed to have made around $100 million for his bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the compensation model for boxing is dramatically different than MMA. Further, that bout was one of the biggest in combat sports history.

It should be noted, however, that McGregor didn’t clarify whether that figure includes money he’s going to make via endorsements etc. Even with that added in, however, some observers believe there’s no way the star’s earning that much.

And what about Cerrone’s payday?

For quite some time, there was a narrative that if you fought McGregor, you were going to make life-changing money on account of how massive a star he is. But, due to the UFC’s new pay-per-view deal with ESPN, it’s no longer clear if that’s the case.

Apparently there has been speculation recently that Cerrone is going to cash in big-time at UFC 246. But, while talking about that, “Cowboy” said this:

“Somewhere in the business is a liar, because the money you guys show me making is not the money I’m making,” Cerrone said. “I need to find that person and be like, ‘Where’d you get those numbers? I want them.’”

Even before Cerrone was booked to fight McGregor, he reported that he wouldn’t make that much more money than he usually does, if were to face the “Notorious” one. It sounds like that hasn’t changed since their fight was materialized.

UFC 246 will be hosted by the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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