Conor McGregor laughed all the way to the bank after his interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight title win over Chad Mendes at UFC 189 (fallout from the card here) earlier this month (July 11, 2015) in "Sin City."
He also helped out his business partners, too.
UFC 189 was a blockbuster pay-per-view (PPV) and one that will surely go down in the record books as one of the most successful mixed martial arts (MMA) events off all-time.
In the build up to the epic PPV, "Notorious" urged UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta to place a $3 million bet that the Irishman would finish the late replacement, Mendes, within two rounds of their headliner inside MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Would that happen? As fate would have it, yes (highlights here) ... albeit with a little bit of adversity.
The boisterous Irishman -- who has already shifted emotional gears on the set of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22 -- half-heartedly confirmed that White and Fertitta did make good on their end of the deal.
"I predicted I would knock him out inside two rounds," McGregor said on ESPN SportsCenter (h/t MMAJunkie). "I placed a bet with my business partners -- a multi-seven-figure bet that Chad would not escape the second round. Low and behold, when McGregor predicts something, the prediction comes true. That’s what happens."
Is normal? Certainly doesn't seem that way, but good for him if its considered legal and ethical.
McGregor, who recently turned 26, is now pegged for an even bigger payday when he faces 145-pound champion Jose Aldo potentially on Jan. 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada, or in a rumored headliner in Dallas, Texas, at AT&T Stadium.
Stay with MMAmania for news and coverage regarding the looming 145-pound championship unification clash between Aldo and McGregor.