It turns out Conor McGregor sold the most pay-per-view buys in 2020.
McGregor last competed in January earlier this year when he defeated Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds in the UFC 246 headliner.
With a reported 1 million pay-per-view buys at the time, it was the highest-selling pay-per-view event of the year until UFC 251 headlined by Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal in July which drew a reported 1.3 million buys.
Of course, those figures were just reported estimates but McGregor seems to have received the official numbers from the UFC in a pay-per-view bonus paid out to him.
The official buys (collected reported buys) for UFC 246 as per his latest social media post is 1,353,429 — which makes it the highest-selling pay-per-view of the year.
McGregor was notably proud of that accomplishment.
“Congrats to the @ufc on a well fought 2020! The only sporting company on the planet to come through the entire year! Incredible!I am honoured to secure their highest PPV of the year with McGregor Vs Cerrone.Congrats Donald, and also on his double submission win last night. #No1
“100% offence. 100% defence. Highest PPV. Highest gate. Fastest Main Event KO of the year. 2020. 40 seconds. Roll on 2021! #McGregorSportsAndEntertainment”
It’s all the more impressive considering it wasn’t a title fight and took place before the pandemic.
One can imagine with more people stuck at home for McGregor’s next return at UFC 257 on January 23 when he takes on Dustin Poirier, the number of buys will be even greater.
However, it would certainly be interesting to see what the latest numbers for the UFC 251 event are.
What do you think of McGregor selling the most PPVs in 2020?