An unexpected pointer has come to light after Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s contract details were leaked. Apart from the huge jumps in his salary, an extraordinary jump in his fight bonus was also spotted. After receiving a $50,000 performance bonus for most of his fights, he was set to receive $500,000 for the fight against Conor McGregor at UFC 229. However, that performance bonus was ultimately deducted as a fine.
UFC 229 was set to become one of the biggest UFC PPVs due to the highly anticipated fight between McGregor and Khabib. Their pre-fight build-up was filled with controversy. The Irish fighter guaranteed to finish Khabib and break his undefeated record, however, he could not do so. Khabib won via submission in the fourth round.
What followed was an all-out brawl. Khabib was seen saying something toward McGregor’s corner and, all of a sudden, the Dagestani fighter jumped over the cage to throw punches at Dillon Danis. At the time, Danis was McGregor’s training partner.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s pay from his leaked contract. 😲
byu/ilovepoopypants inufc
It was reported that Khabib was annoyed by Danis’ constant chatter toward him throughout the fight. But Khabib denied those claims and said that he just wanted to fight someone who was around his age and McGregor’s cornermen were all old.
Meanwhile, inside the Octagon, McGregor was attacked by Khabib’s cornermen and there was chaos there as well. UFC 229 was considered a dark day in UFC history because of the post-fight brawl. After a thorough investigation, Khabib was fined $500,000 and suspended for nine months. McGregor, on the other hand, received a $50,000 fine and a six-month suspension.
Dana White believed the fine received by Khabib Nurmagomedov after UFC 229 was harsh
Dana White was disappointed by the NSAC’s decision to fine and suspend the fighters. In 2019, he told SportsCenter, “I was obviously surprised how much they put on Khabib… It was a half-million dollars and six months if he does some PSAs. They had the whole thing contained in seconds. It was a little harsh in my opinion. It is what it is.
“It’s a fight. At the end of the day, it’s a fight,” he said. “Sometimes you come across people that don’t like each other and there’s a lot of bad blood. That was in the case in this fight. That’s what we do it’s the fight business.”
Khabib’s base salary against McGregor was $2 million and his PPV earnings exceeded $5 million. He fought twice after UFC 229 before taking up retirement. In both those fights, he earned a base salary of $6 million. This turned out to be a massive jump from his first UFC base salary of $14,000 in 2013.
