Although Conor McGregor is now riding the first losing streak of his professional career, he headlined UFC 264 this past weekend which reportedly sold 1.8 Million PPV buys, according to The Sports Business Journal.
If true, this massive event would notch itself as the second most bought UFC PPV event in company history. Residing in a comfortable lead is UFC 229, headlined by McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, which did 2.4 million buys. Behind UFC 264 lies UFC 202 and UFC 257, both McGregor headlined events.
UFC President Dana White hinted that UFC 264 had momentum in the pre-buy that could lend itself to being a top 5 PPV event in company history. Although some deemed it outlandish, this first reported number of 1.8 million now seemingly supports White’s pre-fight claims.
Of the 1,800,000 buys, it is reported that about 1,300,000 of them came nationally, meaning bought inside the United States. This is a massive number for the world wide leader in mixed martial arts, which seemingly gains more popularity with each and every event.
At UFC 264, Dustin Poirier capped off his third, and probably not final, bout against Conor McGregor with a win. McGregor suffered a grueling injury to his shin during the bout and was admitted for surgery the following morning.
In conjunction with the main event, Stephen Thompson fought Gilbert Burns in what seemed to be a title-eliminator. Burns won and now has a stronghold on his #2 contender slot behind just Colby Covington, although White was all but impressed with the fight and Burns’ overall performance.
With Conor McGregor still bringing in massive numbers for the company, who will we see McGregor fight next?