It’s no secret that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor would have made quite a bit of money for his welterweight rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 200. Unfortunately for everyone in the MMA community, McGregor refused to fulfill his media obligations for the event, and was unable to reach a deal with the UFC. Ultimately, McGregor was pulled from the card, and the rematch with Nate Diaz was scrapped.

While a recent report estimated that the UFC stands to lose nearly $45 million for keeping mcGregor off the card, veteran referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy revealed on his podcast that McGregor himself missed out on quite a bit of money.

“I talked to Lorenzo Fertitta at UFC 197 standing in the back and we started talking,” said McCarthy on a recent episode of his podcast with Sean Wheelock, Let’s Get It On MMA (which can be listened to here). “And he said, ‘I never thought that when I had a guy guaranteed $10 million I would have a problem.’ If you don’t think $10 million is a lot of money to make for a fight, you are crazy. That is life changing money.”

“That hand in poker, he lost,” added McCarthy. “That $10 million might not be $10 million the next time he fights because it’s not UFC 200.”

Do you respect McGregor for passing up a $10 million payday to focus on his training, or would you rather see the featherweight champ sacrifice some training time to fulfill media obligations, and end up fighting on the card?