Saturday night was huge for “The Notorious” Conor McGregor. The Irish fighter captured UFC gold—albeit interim UFC gold—by defeating Chad Mendes at UFC 189, infuriating his naysayers and delighting the thousands of Irish fans who migrated to Las Vegas for the bout.
Still in a haze following the win, McGregor spoke to the assembled media at the UFC 189 post-fight press conference (warning: NSFW language) and discussed his long list of accomplishments.
(Warning: NSFW Language)
“Right now I am running the game,” he said (h/t MMAFighting.com’s Shaun Al-Shatti for the transcription).
I have every record in the book. The gate, the pay-per-view, all the viewing figures on FOX, UFC Fight Pass, highest attended weigh-ins. I have every record right now, and at the end of the day I’m still only 26 years of age.
McGregor‘s boasts aren’t 100-percent accurate, of course (it is incredibly unlikely that UFC 189 will break the UFC 100 pay-per-view buyrate record of 1.6 million), but he isn’t too far off, either.
Mendes vs. McGregor drew a colossal $7.2 million gate, according to UFC President Dana White. That broke the UFC’s previous United States gate record of $6.9 million, held by UFC 148 (which was headlined by Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 2), via MMAPayout.com.
#UFCBoston scored 2,751,000 viewers making it the most-watched UFC Fight Night on cable television since 11/14/09. Thank you fight fans!
— FOX Sports 1 (@FOXSports1) January 21, 2015
In January, McGregor‘s bout opposite Dennis Siver blew away the UFC’s Fox Sports 1 ratings record, averaging 2.75 million viewers.
The previous ratings record was 1.78 million, held by UFC Fight Night: Chael Sonnen vs. Shogun Rua—which was a tad below the Fox-era cable TV record of UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping, which averaged 1.86 million.
The stats go on and on for McGregor, but he acknowledged he has some solid competition for the UFC’s top star spot.
Ronda [Rousey] is an absolute machine … She’s an animal, and I relate to Ronda a lot, because I know the work she puts in media-wise and training-wise…I feel it’s me and Ronda at the top of the game, and I’m honored.
McGregor is now lined up for a title unification bout opposite long-reigning featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Depending on how the numbers shake out for UFC 189, that could be the biggest UFC fight since Lesnar vs. Mir 2.
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