Overeem doubts McGregor and Mayweather earn as much as they claim

For years, fans and media have speculated on full paydays for MMA fighters, mostly due to the secretive nature of the sport when it comes to financials. Despite disclosure from various commissions and organizations, there’s always the undisclosed contractual pay for some of the bigger names, making things more nebulous and hard to pin down.

However, former K-1 Grand Prix and Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem is not only more than skeptical of how much Conor McGregor and company claim to be making, but he also discussed his doubts regarding how much boxing champion Floyd Mayweather earns.

During a media event, the conversation turned to high-end fighter pay, where Overeem alluded to the two men believed to be the highest paid in their respective sports.

“My answer to that, to Mayweather and to Conor, let me see some bank statements,” Overeem said during a recent media lunch earlier this week. “You can talk, you can say it, you can put it out there in tweets, but let me see a bank statement that says UFC wired X amount of money, because it’s always going to be this way. People lie. It’s the 21st century. Social media is fake.”

“People lie all the time,” Overeem said. “Personally, I have a hard time believing both of them about their income.”

Granted, we may never get a definitive answer to how much either man makes. Mayweather is a promoter as well as a fighter, and much of the percentage to gain when he has a fight. Aside from pay-per-view points, he is believed to also net some of the gate revenue and his company makes arrangements for distribution rights as well.

Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao also had the unusual price tag of $100.00 for residential purchases, not counting the higher rates for commercial establishments such as bars which can easily reach thousands per establishment. Floyd’s pay-per-view bout after that cost around $80.00 by comparison.

McGregor presumably also gets pay-per-view points, and has had some of the highest disclosed pay in MMA history, having made $3 million in his recent fight with Nate Diaz, which was revealed before the PPV began.

The event is rumored to have done very well, and previous rumors have led some to believe that this disclosed amount isn’t close to what McGregor could potentially be making. Then again, all of this is speculative.

Alistair Overeem will finally get his long-anticipated crack at the title against heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic on September 10th, live from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH.