Cejudo urges UFC to release McGregor rather than pay $30m for final fight

Henry Cejudo has publicly urged the UFC to release Conor McGregor rather than honour the reported $30 million fee owed for his final contracted fight, arguing the promotion’s business case for keeping the Irishman no longer stacks up.

Speaking on his Pound 4 Pound podcast, the former flyweight and bantamweight champion pointed to McGregor’s deteriorating record and the UFC’s shift away from a traditional pay-per-view revenue model as the core reasons to cut ties now.

“At this point, he’s just f*cking trolling,” Cejudo said. “I don’t believe anything that he’s saying. But he’s a draw, you know? Now it’s up to the UFC to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to pay you this much because you’re worth this much.’ I guarantee, I can even see the UFC just letting him go based on what he got paid. They could be like, ‘Hey, you know what? You’ve got one fight left. We don’t think you’re worth that. You’re a free agent.’”

Cejudo went further, framing the decision in purely financial terms. “If I’m a businessman and I want to keep a lot of my money — f*ck Conor. I would cut him. I swear to you I would, because if they’re going to give him $30 million and not have to give him $30 million, particularly with that big Paramount deal and Paramount has to make their money, hey, just cut him. Let him be a free agent.”

McGregor remains the biggest box-office draw in UFC history and crossed over into boxing in 2017 for a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. that generated more than four million pay-per-view buys. Since that night, however, his record inside the octagon reads 1-4. His most recent appearance, at UFC 303 in July, lasted just 69 seconds before a leg injury — the same injury that had kept him out of competition for five years — ended the fight against Max Holloway.

McGregor has stated publicly that he intends to fight out his UFC contract before moving on to bare-knuckle boxing with BKFC, a timeline Cejudo finds unconvincing.

“There’s no more pay-per-view model, and this dude hasn’t won a fight,” Cejudo added. “Just the business aspect of it — pretend I’m Dana White. I’m saying he’s got one fight left, his last fight wasn’t even a fight. He lost again. Just let him leave with the loss in the UFC. Let him start his own career. Let us not pay him what he’s worth, which is $30 million.”

McGregor’s standing has also been damaged by events outside the cage, including a 2024 civil court finding that held him liable for sexual assault. Whether the UFC acts on Cejudo’s logic or chooses to run back a marquee name for one final payday remains to be seen.