Conor McGregor's proposal to buy Man Utd and his staggering net worth

Irish former UFC star Conor McGregor once posted on social media that he was interested in purchasing Manchester United

Conor McGregor once hinted he wanted to buy Manchester United and rumours of potential investors at Old Trafford are swirling again. The Irish former UFC two-weight world champion made his ambition clear in 2021.

Takeover talk have been squashed since Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought a minority stake from the Glazers. But earlier this week, Turki Al-Sheikh, chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, took to social media and suggested that the Manchester club have reached an "advanced stage" of negotiations with new investors.

Many assumed he would be involved with this party or they would be from his own country, but hours later the official made it clear that they were not. This came the same day that United co-owner Ratcliffe gave an honest review reflecting on his two years at the club, which he and his company Ineos purchased a nearly 30 per cent stake in in 2023.

While it is currently unknown who these investors mentioned by Al-Sheikh are, one sporting star who made it clear he wanted to be involved with United is affluent MMA ace McGregor. Though his proposition was somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Four years ago, United's former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward stepped down from his position amid drama surrounding the proposed Super League. This sent fans into a frenzy and pleas for the Glazer family to sell began.

McGregor took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to stir the pot and simply posted to his then 8.6 million followers: "Hey guys. I'm thinking about buying Manchester United! What do you think?"

He followed this up by stating: "I am certainly interested in acquiring a sports team at some stage! Both Celtic and Man United are teams I like for sure. But I am open. I feel I could do big things for a club."

At the time it was abundantly clear that the Irishman did not have the financial capabilities to purchase the club on his own. He had gained a fortune from his £61million fight with Floyd Mayweather and held brand deals with the likes of Monster Energy, EA, Burger King and Reebok.

But his estimated net worth stood at just £181m in 2021 and Celebrity Net Worth suggests that his fortune is £150m as of 2025. This financial power would be enough for him to join forces with other investors to form a consortium, however.

McGregor is one of many potential investors who have expressed an interest in purchasing shares in United over the years, but Ratcliffe and Ineos put their money where their mouth is in 2023. It has been 24 months since they seized control of football operations and the British billionaire has addressed his rather lacklustre reign in depth this week.

"There are two halves to a football team," Ratcliffe told The Business podcast. "There's the business side and the sports side. The biggest correlation, like it or not, between results and any external factor, is profitability.

"The more cash you've got, the better squad you can build. It's like a Formula One car - the better car you can build, the quicker you go. The better your squad, the better your football should be.

"So a lot of what we've done in the first year is spend an awful lot of time putting the club on a sustainable, healthy footing. If you look at our results for last year, we have the highest revenues ever. Profitability, the second highest ever. We're not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we've done in this set of results, and we weren't in the Champions League.

"Those numbers will get better. Manchester United will become the most profitable football club in the world, in my view, and from that will stem, I hope, a long-term, sustainable, high-level of football."

"The press, sometimes I don't understand," added Ratcliffe. "They want overnight success. They think it's a light switch. You know, you flick a switch and it's all going to be roses tomorrow. You can't run a club like Manchester United on knee-jerk reactions to some journalist who goes off on one every week."

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