Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor wants to buy Chelsea football club from the embattled Roman Abramovich amid the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war.
The Russian billionaire has been under pressure especially from members of the United Kingdom parliament over his affiliation with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Though Abramovich has denied the alleged ties with Putin, critics have continued to mount pressure on him and his businesses abroad.
Due to his reported fear of being sanctioned by the UK government, he decided to hand over the control of Chelsea to the trustees of the club’s charitable foundation. Despite that, he has continued to be pressured by critics, especially UK MPs.
Hence, reports claimed that the Russian billionaire who has been the owner of Chelsea since 2003, has been selling his properties in the UK.
Amid that, on Wednesday, March 2, Abramovich confirmed that he was willing to sell Chelsea to protect the club and its sponsors amid the ongoing Russia and Ukraine crisis.
The Russian billionaire who has invested over one billion dollars in the club which helped the Premier League side to win virtually every title in club football placed a three billion pound price tag on the club on Wednesday, March 2.
What is Conor McGregor’s interest in Chelsea
Conor McGregor gained international recognition for being a mixed martial artist. The 33-year-old Irish fighter has been so successful in the game that he is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight, and lightweight double-champion.
He is also a Cage Warriors featherweight and lightweight champion who is currently ranked number 9 in the UFC lightweight rankings.
Despite being a renowned fighter, he is a lover of football. He is seen as a very strong supporter of Manchester United. Conor McGregor loves football to the extent he considered buying Manchester United in 2021.
McGregor took his love for football to the next level when he declared his interest in buying Chelsea hours after Abramovich put it up for sale.
The Irish fighter took to his Twitter page to tweet a screenshot of a WhatsApp chat containing a message that Chelsea was for sale for three billion pounds. He captioned the screenshot with “I wish to explore this @ChelseaFC”.
I wish to explore this. @ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/ABEjjCqhD7
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 2, 2022
However, since he shared this tweet on Wednesday night, March 2, there was no report confirming whether he has made an official offer to buy the reigning European and world champions.
Push it to the limit! @ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/UFZUGwnwbO
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 2, 2022
What is the net worth of Conor McGregor?
Since Conor McGregor is interested in buying Chelsea worth three billion pounds, it will be interesting to know the net worth of the 33-year-old Irish fighter.
Though Conor McGregor is the biggest superstar in UFC, he is yet to be a billionaire in dollars. He has however earned a couple of millions inside and outside the UFC.
McGregor is so big that he is involved in four of the top-five biggest-selling pay-per-view events in the promotion’s history.
He reportedly earns between 25 and 50 million dollars per UFC bout. The amount he earns per fight depends on the PPV earnings of the fight.
The biggest amount he has earned for a fight was 100 million dollars when he decided to cross to boxing to fight Floyd Mayweather in 2017. After Mayweather defeated him in the 10th round, McGregor got $100m while the American boxer got around $200m.
In 2021, an American magazine Forbes named him the highest-earning sportsman on earth ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Lionel Messi of Paris Saint Germain. It is believed that he made it to the top of the list after selling his Proper 12 whiskey brand for $150m that same year.
All things being equal, Conor McGregor’s net worth is nothing less than 135 million pounds.
Can McGregor afford to buy Chelsea?
From our analysis above, Conor McGregor can not afford to buy Chelsea. He is not even worth half a billion pounds yet.
The fact that Abramovich placed a three billion pound price tag on Chelsea has completely ruled him out of the race.
However, he can only stand a chance of running Chelsea if he can form a consortium that can match the price tag and have enough money in their reserve to run the club.
