There is no personal or business partnership between David Zaslav and Conor McGregor, even though searches often pair their names. Zaslav is a media executive who recently left as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, while McGregor is an Irish mixed martial artist. Their link is corporate ownership.
Skydance, formerly known as Paramount Skydance, now owns the UFC media rights that carry McGregor’s fights, and it also completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, 2026. Understanding that single ownership chain explains nearly every reason the two names appear together.
The connection rests on three verified developments, which are listed here in the order they took place:
- Paramount Skydance secured the UFC media rights in a seven-year deal valued at $7.7 billion.
- The company then completed a $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the company Zaslav led.
- The combined business now operates under the name Skydance and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.
Each step connects one of the two men to the same corporate parent, but none of them creates a personal tie between Zaslav and McGregor.
Do David Zaslav and Conor McGregor Have a Direct Business Relationship?
No public record shows a direct business relationship between the two men. Company filings, official biographies, and reporting from major business and sports outlets do not describe a joint venture, an investment, an endorsement deal, a management arrangement, or a confirmed meeting between them. Speculation about a hidden deal usually comes from seeing two famous names in the same headlines.
The following list shows the types of direct links that would need to be documented before anyone could call the two men business partners:
- A joint business venture or shared company
- An investment by one man in a venture led by the other
- An endorsement or sponsorship agreement between them
- A management or representation arrangement
- A confirmed, reported meeting focused on business
None of these has appeared in the sources reviewed. When you encounter a claim of a private deal between a media executive and an athlete, check a company press release, an SEC filing, or reporting from an established outlet such as Variety, CNBC, or NBC News. If none of them mention the deal, treat the claim as unconfirmed.
How Paramount, UFC, and Warner Bros. Discovery Connect
Paramount, UFC, and Warner Bros. Discovery connect through a chain of deals rather than a single agreement. Paramount bought the right to broadcast UFC events, and later bought the company that Zaslav ran. The result is one owner with interests in both media and combat sports.
Paramount’s UFC Media Rights Deal
Paramount’s UFC deal shows how major media companies now value live sports. David Ellison, the chief executive of the combined company and the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, bought the multi-year media rights to the UFC from TKO Group, the company that owns the promotion. The agreement runs seven years and begins after the UFC’s previous broadcast arrangement with ESPN ends. The reported price was $7.7 billion.
Conor McGregor responded publicly to the change, but his comments focused on the end of the pay-per-view model rather than the corporate details. For fans, that shift matters more than the ownership structure. Events that once required a separate purchase now stream as part of a subscription service.
The Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Connection
The second link is the takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, a media company formed in 2022 when WarnerMedia merged with Discovery. Zaslav was its chief executive from that merger until the deal closed. The company owns brands such as Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, TNT Sports, and HGTV.
The path to the takeover was contested. Paramount sued Warner Bros. Discovery and Zaslav on January 12, 2026, asking a court to require more transparency about why the company had favored a competing bid from Netflix. After Netflix withdrew, the two companies signed a definitive merger agreement on February 27, 2026. Larry Ellison agreed to personally backstop $40 billion of the equity financing. The table below summarizes the key dates.
| Date | Event |
| January 12, 2026 | Paramount sues Warner Bros. Discovery and Zaslav |
| February 27, 2026 | Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery sign a definitive merger agreement |
| April 23, 2026 | Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve the acquisition |
| July 11, 2026 | UFC 329 takes place in Las Vegas |
| October 1, 2026 | A $7 million per day ticking fee begins under the deal |
| October 5, 2026 | Zaslav shares a farewell video with staff |
| October 6, 2026 | The acquisition closes and the company begins trading as Skydance |
How UFC Broadcasting Rights Affect Fans
For fans in the United States, the most practical change is cost. UFC 329, McGregor’s comeback card, streamed on Paramount+ without a pay-per-view charge. The main card also appeared on CBS. Anyone with a Paramount+ subscription could watch the event without buying a separate ticket to the broadcast.
Rights outside the United States follow different arrangements. A viewing guide for the United Kingdom and Ireland listed TNT Sports and Discovery+ as broadcasters for UFC 329. Both brands came from Warner Bros. Discovery, so the same corporate family could hold rights on both sides of the Atlantic. Broadcast deals can change, so viewers should confirm current coverage in their own country before subscribing.
David Zaslav Biography
David Zaslav is an American media executive known for building Discovery into a global cable network and later leading Warner Bros. Discovery through a major merger. He is widely described as a skilled dealmaker and also as a polarizing leader. His career matters to this topic because the company he ran is now part of Skydance.
Early Life and Education
Zaslav was born on January 15, 1960, in New York City. He studied at Binghamton University and Boston University before becoming a lawyer at the New York firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae. His legal training shaped his reputation as a negotiator of complicated media contracts, a skill that became central to his later deal-making.
Career Before Warner Bros. Discovery
Zaslav moved from law into television in the late 1990s. He served as an executive vice president at NBC and as president of NBC Cable from October 1999 to May 2006. He then led cable and new media distribution at NBCUniversal until December 2006. NBC is a major American broadcast network, and its cable arm created channels that are now part of the modern media landscape. Zaslav is credited with helping launch CNBC, a business news channel, and with contributing to the creation of MSNBC, a cable news network.
In January 2007, he became president and chief executive of Discovery. Under his leadership, the company grew into a global group of nonfiction and lifestyle channels, which gave it a large international audience and a strong base of advertising revenue.
Leadership at Warner Bros. Discovery
Zaslav became chief executive when the WarnerMedia merger closed on April 8, 2022. The combined company brought together film and television studios, premium streaming, news, and sports networks. His tenure was marked by both praise and criticism. Critics pointed to several decisions that drew public backlash, including:
- Canceling completed or nearly finished projects, which some argued was done to claim tax benefits
- Removing titles from HBO Max and other streaming platforms
- Heavy cost cutting across the company’s workforce
Supporters argued that he kept the company steady during one of the most contested media sales in years. He led the company through its sale to Paramount Skydance, and he left the chief executive role when that acquisition closed on October 6, 2026. Reports also said he thanked employees in a farewell video shared on October 5. The sources reviewed did not announce a next role for him.
Age, Family, and Personal Life
As of October 2026, Zaslav is 66 years old. He is married to Pam Zaslav. Several profile websites say the couple has three children, but the family keeps a low public profile, and I could not confirm the children’s names or other details from a primary source. For that reason, this article does not list them.
David Zaslav’s Net Worth and Compensation
Online net worth estimates for Zaslav vary widely, and most sites do not explain their calculations, so no single figure should be treated as fact. His compensation is better documented. His most recent reported annual pay package totaled $165 million, including a one-time stock option grant valued at $109.6 million tied to the plan to split the company. Earlier reporting described a $3 million annual salary and a bonus of up to $22 million.
The payout tied to the Skydance acquisition is also documented in filings, but the figures differ depending on the assumptions used. The table below shows the main numbers reported.
| Payout Measure | Reported Figure | What It Means |
| Cash severance | $34.2 million | Cash payment in the filing |
| Equity in the combined company | $517.2 million | Stock value in the new company |
| Minimum total in the filing | At least $550 million | Includes cash, equity, and a small health benefit |
| Top estimated golden parachute value | $886.8 million | Upper estimate under earlier closing assumptions |
| Estimated tax reimbursement | $335.4 million | Declines as time passes under IRS rules |
Conor McGregor Biography
Conor McGregor is an Irish mixed martial artist from Dublin who became one of the most recognizable athletes in the world. His fighting results, business interests, and personality have all helped build his brand. He matters to this topic because his fights now run on a platform owned by Skydance.
Early Life and Rise to Fame
McGregor was born on July 14, 1988, in Dublin, Ireland. He made his amateur mixed martial arts debut in February 2007, at age 18, and then turned professional. He built his reputation on the Irish circuit before signing with the UFC in 2013.
His rise inside the UFC was fast. At UFC 194, he knocked out José Aldo in 13 seconds, the fastest finish in a UFC title fight, to win the featherweight championship. That result made him a global name.
UFC Career and Two-Division Championships
McGregor’s most notable achievement inside the octagon is holding two titles at once. In 2016, he won the lightweight championship at UFC 205 by defeating Eddie Alvarez. The UFC recognizes him as the first fighter to hold championships in two weight classes at the same time.
His most-watched fight came at UFC 229 in 2018, when he lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov. The bout drew 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, the most ever for a mixed martial arts event. That number shows how much value the pay-per-view model once created, and why the shift to subscription streaming is a major change.
McGregor returned on July 11, 2026, at UFC 329 in Las Vegas, facing Max Holloway in a welterweight bout. Holloway is a former UFC champion who had also faced McGregor before. Holloway won by first-round TKO after McGregor was injured. The official time was one minute and nine seconds, which is why some headlines use the number 69 seconds. It was McGregor’s first UFC bout since 2021.
Boxing Career and the Floyd Mayweather Fight
In August 2017, McGregor boxed Floyd Mayweather Jr., a former professional boxing champion. McGregor lost. The fight remains one of the largest commercial events in combat sports history, and it proved that his commercial appeal reached far beyond MMA fans.
Business Ventures and Companies Owned by Conor McGregor
The best-known business linked to McGregor is Proper No. Twelve, an Irish whiskey brand he launched in 2018. Parade reported that selling the brand was his largest financial windfall, with the value reportedly near 130 million euros. That figure comes from a secondary report rather than an audited statement, so treat it as an approximate reported amount.
The sources reviewed confirm only this one major venture. Other companies sometimes attributed to McGregor are not documented in the reporting I reviewed, so this article does not list them. Anyone researching his business interests should check company registries and official announcements.
Best Friend and Relationship With Artem Lobov
Artem Lobov is a former UFC fighter born in Belarus who has trained alongside McGregor for many years. Media outlets often describe him as one of McGregor’s closest associates. The sources reviewed do not confirm a formal title such as “best friend,” and they do not provide reliable details on the state of their relationship at any point in time. Because celebrity relationships change and often attract rumors, readers should rely on direct quotes from the people involved or established news reporting.
Age, Height, and Family
McGregor is 38 years old as of October 2026. Most profiles list his height at 5 feet 9 inches, which is about 175 centimeters. He married his longtime partner, Dee Devlin, in a private ceremony at a church inside Vatican City last December, according to TMZ. The couple has four children: sons Conor Jr., born in 2017, Rian, born in 2021, and Mack, born in 2023, and a daughter, Croia, born in 2019.
Conor McGregor’s Net Worth
Most trackers estimate McGregor’s net worth at around $200 million. The estimate is built from UFC purses, the Mayweather fight, endorsements, and the reported sale of his whiskey brand. These are estimates, not verified accounts, so any article quoting the figure should describe it as estimated.
Why Do David Zaslav and Conor McGregor Appear Together in Search Results?
Search engines link names when the same stories repeatedly mention them. In 2026, that happened for two reasons. Coverage of the Skydance takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery ran in the same weeks as coverage of McGregor’s UFC 329 return on Paramount+. Both stories also involved the Ellison family’s expanding media empire, so the same headlines often named both companies and both men.
Curiosity also plays a role. Readers who see Zaslav’s payout headlines next to McGregor’s fight coverage often search both names to find out whether they are connected. The accurate answer is that they share an owner, not a personal relationship. That distinction is the key point for anyone trying to understand the story, and it is why this article focuses on ownership rather than rumor.
David Zaslav vs. Conor McGregor: Careers, Influence, and Public Profiles
Zaslav and McGregor work in very different fields, but both depend on audiences, brands, and distribution. The table below compares their careers across several areas.
| Category | David Zaslav | Conor McGregor |
| How influence is built | Corporate leadership and deal-making | Athletic results and personality |
| Daily work | Managing executives, boards, and strategy | Training, competing, and promoting |
| Public visibility | Earnings calls, interviews, and press statements | Arenas, press conferences, and social media |
| Main income sources | Salary, bonuses, stock, and deal payouts | Fight purses, endorsements, and business sales |
| Biggest 2026 moment | Closing the Skydance deal and leaving Warner Bros. Discovery | Returning at UFC 329 |
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What Is Next for Paramount, UFC, and Conor McGregor?
The next stage depends on how the combined company integrates its assets and whether McGregor returns to the octagon. Both developments will shape how fans experience live sports and streaming in the coming years.
Future of UFC Broadcasting
The seven-year UFC agreement means events are expected to continue streaming on Paramount+ in the United States without a pay-per-view charge. The combined company says it will generate annual revenue of nearly $70 billion and brings together Paramount+, HBO Max, CBS, CNN, and many cable networks. Those assets give it an unusually broad set of platforms for sports, news, and entertainment.
Integration will be a long process. The company also carries a heavy debt load while it pursues cost savings, and the deal cleared final hurdles only after settlements with a coalition of states and a Hollywood writers’ union. Viewers should expect changes in how streaming packages are priced and how sports rights are bundled, but the exact timeline has not been announced.
Conor McGregor’s Fighting Status and Potential Return
No next fight has been officially announced for McGregor. Reports say he had knee surgery after UFC 329. One profile says he is targeting a return in summer 2027 after an ACL operation in August 2026. That date comes from secondary sites and McGregor’s own comments, so it is not confirmed. Fans should check UFC.com and official UFC announcements before accepting any date as final.
Frequently Asked Questions About David Zaslav and Conor McGregor
Readers often ask a few specific questions about these two men. The answers below reflect the verified information available as of October 2026.
Are David Zaslav and Conor McGregor Business Partners?
No. No public record, company filing, or credible report shows a partnership, investment, or joint project between them. Their only connection is that Skydance, the company formerly called Paramount Skydance, owns Zaslav’s former employer and also broadcasts UFC events.
What Is the Paramount Connection Between Them?
Paramount bought UFC media rights in a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal. It later completed a takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery valued at $110 billion. Because both deals sit under one corporate owner, the two men are linked through ownership rather than personal ties.
What Companies Does Conor McGregor Own?
The main business confirmed in the sources reviewed is Proper No. Twelve, an Irish whiskey brand launched in 2018 and later sold. Other ventures attributed to him are not documented in reliable reporting, so readers should check official registries before accepting any claim about additional companies.
Who Is Conor McGregor’s Best Friend?
Artem Lobov is widely described in media as a close associate and long-time training partner. The sources reviewed do not confirm a formal “best friend” title, so the description should be treated as reported rather than verified.
What Happened Between Conor McGregor and Artem Lobov?
I could not confirm specific details about any disagreement or change in their relationship from reliable sources. Readers should look for direct statements from the two men or established news coverage rather than relying on unverified social media posts.
Who Ended Conor McGregor’s Career?
No source reviewed says that any opponent ended McGregor’s career. His most recent UFC result was a first-round loss to Max Holloway at UFC 329. McGregor has not announced a retirement in the sources reviewed, and his next fight remains unconfirmed.
Is David Zaslav Still the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery?
No. He left the role when the Skydance acquisition closed on October 6, 2026. The company now operates as part of Skydance.
How Much Is David Zaslav Worth?
No single net worth figure is reliable, because published estimates vary and most do not show their methods. The better-documented number is his compensation. Filings showed at least about $550 million in cash and equity from the merger payout, with a top estimated value of $886.8 million under earlier assumptions. The final amount is likely to be lower than the top figure and will appear in later SEC filings.
What Is Conor McGregor’s Net Worth?
Most estimates place it at around $200 million. That figure is based on fight earnings, endorsements, and the reported sale of his whiskey brand. It is an estimate rather than a verified total.
Conclusion: Understanding the David Zaslav and Conor McGregor Connection
David Zaslav and Conor McGregor have no known personal or business partnership. Their only link is corporate ownership: Skydance, formerly Paramount Skydance, holds the UFC media rights that carry McGregor’s fights and completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, the company Zaslav led, on October 6, 2026.
The article explains how that ownership chain works, profiles both men, and clarifies common myths, including the reported payout figures and McGregor’s estimated net worth. It also covers what remains unconfirmed, such as McGregor’s next fight date and Zaslav’s next role.
