Conor McGregor’s earnings from 2008-2013 are a far cry from the millions he currently takes home for one match. Coach Kavanagh has revealed that the before the Crumlin native hit the big time, he nearly gave up because times were so tough.
The UFC champ’s trusted coach told the Sunday Independent that back when he was starting out in 2008, Conor was on the dole and sometimes lost motivation to keep working towards his dream.
‘Well it wasn’t easy.” Coach Kavanagh said. “Conor was on the dole, earning €100 a fight and training at the height of winter in a cold gym. Now, I don’t care how passionate you are, but there are always going to be periods thinkingL ‘F**k this! What am I doing here?”
“Conor’s annual earnings for that five-year period was something like €1,500 a year. There was no money and I was running out of ideas. The UFC was a closed shop.”
In 2013, after five years of working through those gruelling conditions, Conor’s talent was slowly becoming recognised and he was offered a contract of €1,000 a month, which would see him turn over 20-25% of his earnings.
However, Kavanagh knew there were bigger and better things in store for the Notorious and begged him not to take the deal.
“I begged him not to sign. I literally ripped the deal away from him.” he said.
Luckily, Conor listened to his coach and soon after he was snapped up by the UFC – and hasn’t looked back!
