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Conor McGregor is the highest-earning fighter in UFC history. He regularly takes home a fight purse in the range of 7 figures. Taking on ‘Notorious’ too has its benefits in terms of fighter pay. Nate Diaz has earned almost half his UFC salary from his 2 fights against the Irish fighter. In their clash at UFC 202 itself, he earned around $2 million. He hasn’t expressly praised the fighter for this, but fellow divisional fighters tell him to thank McGregor for what he has earned.

Now, Dustin Poirier who took on ‘Notorious’ at UFC 178 in 2014 had words of praise for his opponent. He claimed that this was the fight that changed his outlook and helped him grow as a person. 

John Kavanagh praises Fighters for being grateful to Conor McGregor

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Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh responded to the same in a tweet. He wrote, “I’ve a had a few UFC fighters pull me aside fight week and say something along the lines of “I might not like your boy but we should all be sending him 5%. He’s changed the game for all of us.” Be grateful and you’ll receive more to be grateful for.”

Conor McGregor has certainly changed the game in the UFC. He is the richest fighter having made 9 figures from his one boxing matchup against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Though he has competed sporadically in the cage over the last 4 years, he still is a massive crowd puller. 

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Now, the UFC’s first simultaneous 2-division Champion has retired for the 3rd time. This was because he claimed that there isn’t anything exciting and he is tired of waiting around. 

However, even nearly a month after his retirement tweet, the UFC is yet to expunge him from the rankings. In contrast, another former 2-division Champion Henry Cejudo lost his spot as the 3rd ranked pound for pound fighter relatively quickly. 

Such is the fighter’s impact that even in retirement he is subject to call-outs and features in the conversation for the next Lightweight contender.

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How many fighters do you think owe their part of their financial or career success to Conor McGregor?

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