During a recent UFC 205 press conference to promote the upcoming pay-per-view (PPV) event in New York City on Nov. 12, which features a lightweight title fight between division champion Eddie Alvarez and featherweight kingpin Conor McGregor (video replay here), "Notorious" clowned Alvarez for not negotiating a better deal for the much-anticipated fight.
Interestingly enough, Eddie didn't offer a rebuttal, and during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, the 155-pound king revealed that he did in fact take the deal offered to him instead of trying to negotiate a higher price tag. That's because Alvarez says in order to do that, a fighter has to be willing to walk away if terms aren't met, and losing the McGregor fight was not an option.
Alvarez breaks it down:
"I am happy with the money I am ready to make. I think you have to earn the right to be able to draw a line in the sand and say this is what I want and fighters have to be prepared to walk if that's the case. I don't think this is one I was prepared to walk away from, it's too sweet. I think the opponent is too good of a style matchup. The money is good, everything about the fight is good. It wasn't the one I was willing to walk away from at this time. So, I wasn't going to sit there and nickel-and-dime UFC about negotiating a deal. The deal was good. It was fine, I am fine by it."
One thing that did surprise Alvarez was the fact the Conor was privy to his contractual terms with UFC, information he says the mouthy Irishman should not have.
"A little bit surprised. I don't think he should have stuff like that or should know things about how much money I am making and things of that sort. I don't know who told him or what was what. I know management teams talk in order to get deals done. So maybe it was the teams talking letting them know what each other got done and knowing what they have to do to get the fight done itself. But why does he give a shit? He seemed angry about it. I don't know why he was so angry and upset that I took the deal. It was a little weird to me. Maybe there was a stipulation to where if I took more money and the fight was off. Maybe he wanted the fight to be off, he seemed angry about it."
Indeed, one of the most important factors in getting a fight against McGregor -- who is easily the highest-earning fighter on the roster today, if not ever -- is the fact that your salary will go up, too. Something Chad Mendes and the aforementioned Nate Diaz can attest to.
For Eddie, however, he simply wasn't ready to risk losing out on silencing Conor once and for all for a few shekels more. How much he is actually getting paid though, remains a mystery, though Eddie did say he will be making "millions."