Conor McGregor: UFC Contract “Essentially Void” Under Paramount Deal
Former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor has declared his current UFC contract essentially void following the promotion’s landmark broadcast deal with Paramount, setting the stage for contract renegotiations in February 2026.
McGregor made the assertion during a Roblox livestream with his son and content creator Caylus on January 18, claiming the elimination of the pay-per-view model has fundamentally altered the terms of his existing agreement. The Irish fighter, who has not competed since July 2021, remains under contract for two additional fights but argues the financial structure underpinning that deal no longer exists.
Conor McGregor Declares UFC Contract Void as Paramount Deal Ends PPV Era
“I’m going into negotiations with the UFC in February, and I’m very interested to go,” McGregor said during the stream. “They actually got a new deal with Paramount, which is worth 7.7 billion dollars. So the company has 4x its profit, and my contract essentially is void right now because there is no more pay-per-view, whereas my contract was based on pay-per-view sales.”
McGregor referenced his status as the promotion’s highest-grossing pay-per-view attraction to justify his position. The 37-year-old has headlined five of the top six highest-selling UFC events in history, including UFC 229 against Khabib Nurmagomedov, which generated 2.4 million buys and remains the biggest pay-per-view in MMA history. McGregor reportedly earned approximately $50 million for that 2018 bout when PPV points were included.
The UFC announced a seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights agreement with Paramount in August 2025, more than doubling the value of its previous ESPN deal. The agreement, which begins in January 2026, shifts all UFC content to Paramount Plus at no additional cost beyond a monthly subscription fee, ending the traditional pay-per-view model that has defined the promotion since its inception.
Under the previous ESPN arrangement, which averaged between $500 million and $550 million annually, fans paid $79.99 per numbered event on top of an ESPN Plus subscription. The new Paramount deal provides an average annual value of $1.1 billion to the UFC, with 13 marquee numbered events and 30 Fight Nights streaming exclusively on the platform.
UFC CEO Dana White addressed the compensation shift in August 2025, confirming that fighter bonuses would increase under the new deal but offering few specifics about how PPV points would be replaced. “Bonuses are obviously going up,” White said at a press conference following the Paramount announcement. “The low-hanging fruit that’s easy to answer? Bonuses are obviously going up. So that will be big.”
Whether the change in broadcast model legally voids existing contracts remains unclear. McGregor reportedly has two fights remaining on his current deal, though the impact of the Paramount agreement on contractual obligations has not been publicly detailed by the UFC or TKO Group.
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McGregor indicated he is targeting the UFC’s planned White House event on June 14, 2026, for his return. President Donald Trump announced the event will coincide with his 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of American independence, with plans for an outdoor card on the South Lawn featuring multiple championship fights.
The former champion completed an 18-month anti-doping suspension in March 2026 after missing three whereabouts tests in 2024. Combat Sports Anti-Doping reduced the standard 24-month sanction to 18 months, backdating it to September 20, 2024, citing McGregor’s cooperation and the fact he was recovering from injury at the time of the missed tests.
McGregor’s most recent appearance came at UFC 264 in July 2021, when he suffered a broken leg in a second consecutive loss to Dustin Poirier. That event generated 1.8 million pay-per-view buys despite the outcome, underscoring McGregor’s continued drawing power.
The UFC launched its Paramount era on January 24, 2026, with UFC 324 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The deal represents the first major media rights acquisition by Paramount following its merger with Skydance, completed in August 2025.
Neither the UFC nor McGregor’s representatives have commented publicly on the specific legal standing of his contract or the February negotiations.
