When it comes to Ultimate Fighting Championship PPV buys, the Hibernian Conor McGregor stands unchallenged as the undisputed pound-for-pound kingpin.
To date, “The Notorious” has headlined four of the five record-breaking buyrates in UFC history.
So, let’s take a look at those monumental feats…
4
UFC 194: Jose Aldo vs. McGregor
Date: 12/12/2015
Following months of delay (injuries to Aldo etc), the long-awaited matchup between featherweight champ Jose Aldo and interim titleholder McGregor finally came to fruition.
What many thought would be a competitive match turned out to be anything but, as a perfectly timed counter left from McGregor slept Aldo in 13 seconds flat.
“Mystic Mac” was now the new 145-pound champ, and along with it, rocked up 1,200,00 PPV buys – at the time, the second highest in the promotions history – one slot behind UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir.
3
UFC 196: McGregor vs. Nate Diaz
Date: 05/03/2016
McGregor was lined up to vie for Rafael dos Anjos’ lightweight strap, but that fell through as the Brazilian incurred an injury. Aldo couldn’t fill the void; citing he need more than two weeks notification for a fight of that magnitude.
To save the card, however, the SBG product turned to The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner, Stockton Brawler Nate Diaz, who took the fight on 11 days notice.
The contest was fought at welterweight (McGregor’s debut), and was supposed to be a walk in the park for the Irishman – no such thing – Diaz took home the spoils via second-round rear-naked choke submission.
Still, McGregor could sort of rest easy, knowing he’d just generated buy rates to the tune of 1,600,000, thus breaking the previous record set by UFC 100.
2
UFC 202: McGregor vs. Diaz 2
Date: 20/08/2016
What McGregor wants, more times than not, McGregor gets.
So, six months removed from succumbing to an RNC, and in the process losing his 15-fight win streak (7 in the UFC), the 28-year-old’s rematch with Diaz was on.
Fought again at 170lbs, this time the five-round back-and-forth affair went to the judges scorecards. Nonetheless, with the luck of the Irish, McGregor was able to eke out a contentious majority decision.
His reward – redemption, and a new UFC pay-per-view record of 1,650,000.
1
UFC 205: Eddie Alvarez vs. McGregor
Date: 12/11/3016
The historic New York card with McGregor at the helm was bound to break records aplenty.*
Still the siting champ of the 145ers, McGregor was on course to make his own personal history – the first fighter in the now-owned WME-IMG promotion to hold two belts simultaneously.
Though, standing in his way was 155-pound titlist Eddie Alvarez. Nothing doing there really, as McGregor wrested the crown from Alvarez in a one-sided beatdown – TKO victory in the second stanza.
For McGregor, it was a red panty night for all the right reasons – dual champion, and probably the highest grossing pay-per-view in the company’s nascent history.
PPV Buys/Buyrate for UFC 205 were in the region of, or exceeding 1,650,000. Those figures have yet to be substantiated.
Written by Nedu Obi
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