Conor McGregor could win an ‘absolutely colossal’ amount of money at UFC 308.
The former dual-weight champion is using his time away from fighting to increase his net worth.
As well as launching several successful businesses and an acting career, McGregor has been putting his MMA knowledge to good use and winning lots of money by placing big bets on UFC fights.
Now he’s backed Max Holloway and Robert Whittaker to the tune of $500,000.
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Conor McGregor predicts back-to-back KOs at UFC 308
On Saturday, during the first UFC 308 main card fight, McGregor took to X – formerly known as Twitter – from his yacht to reveal who he was backing in the biggest fights on the card.
Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will defend his belt against former two-time titleholder Holloway in the main event of the evening.
Just before that, Khamzat Chimaev will put his undefeated record on the line against ex-champion Robert Whittaker, who is hoping to earn a crack at middleweight king Dricus du Plessis by becoming the first man to beat ‘Borz’
Holloway and Whittaker are underdogs heading into their respective UFC 308 fights, but McGregor has put a massive bet on them to pull off back-to-back upsets by knocking out their opponents.
He said: “What’s up, guys? ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor here, live from the big yacht. Sitting down, lying down, chilling, watching the fights. Ladies and gentlemen, here are my picks for the evening.
“Max Holloway, Robert Whittaker, KO victories. Max Holloway inside the first half of the fight. Robert Whittaker inside the second half of the fight. Half a million US dollars.”
The UFC legend followed that post up with a voice note revealing how much he stands to earn.
“17 million US dollars is the return. So, an ‘absolutely colossal’ bet tonight. Let’s go! 17m’s, baby!”
Conor McGregor continues to break UFC betting rules
Up until October 2022, there weren’t any rules against fighters gambling on fights, however, because of an ongoing incident with former coach, James Krause, the promotion changed its athlete conduct policy.
The promotion issued a memo to fighters and their managers stating that they are now prohibited from gambling on any UFC fight, regardless of whether they are involved or not. Despite that, fighters are still allowed to be sponsored by gambling companies but cannot bet at all.
McGregor placed a massive $1million bet on Alex Pereira vs Khalil Rountree Jr. ending in a KO.
‘Notorious’ got his money back and earned another $200,000 for taking a massive risk on UFC 307.
Last week, McGregor lost $500,000 backing Renan Ferreira to score a shock win against Francis Ngannou.
McGregor promised to get it back immediately after Ngannou quickly KO’d the Brazilian.
Now he stands to win $17million if things go his way at UFC 308.
It’s currently unclear if he’ll face any punishment for ignoring the UFC betting rules.