McGregor features in six of the top eight most-watched UFC events, showing he is still the sport’s biggest draw, despite his recent defeats.
Conor McGregor’s defeat to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 sold an estimated 1.6 million in pay-per-view buys. McGregor suffered a shock second-round knockout to Poirier in their rematch in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
The defeat is the Dubliner’s second in his last three fights, leaving him with a record of 3-3 in his last six UFC bouts.
Conor McGregor.
According to Sports Business Journal, the former two-weight champion’s rematch with Poirier brought in 1.2 million pay-per-view (PPV) buys on ESPN+.
The fight also brought in 400,000 pay-per-view buys internationally, bringing the total to 1.6 million buys.
UFC 257 is the third biggest fight in UFC event, narrowly behind McGregor vs Diaz II back in 2016, which had 1.65 million buys.
Number one UFC PPV.
Both are well off the number one on the list, however, which is, unsurprisingly, the 2018 clash between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, which brought in a staggering 2.4 million buys.
In fact, McGregor features in six of the top eight most-bought UFC events – which suggests he is still the sport’s biggest draw, despite his recent defeats.
The top eight include McGregor’s first bout against Diaz, the Irishman’s victory over Jose Aldo in 2015 – which lasted 13 seconds – and his win against Alvarez a year later.
The top ten pay-per-view buys in UFC history
- UFC 229 – McGregor vs Khabib 2018 (2.4 million buys)
- UFC 202 – McGregor vs Diaz II 2016 (1.65 million buys)
- UFC 257 – McGregor vs Poirier II 2021 (1.6 million buys)
- UFC 100 – Lesnar vs Mir II 2009 (1.6 million buys)
- UFC 196 – McGregor vs Diaz 2016 (1.5 million buys)
- UFC 194 – McGregor vs Aldo 2015 (1.4 million buys)
- UFC 251 – Usman vs Masividal 2020 (1.3 million buys)
- UFC 205 – McGregor vs Alvarez 2016 (1.3 million buys)
- UFC 200 – Tate vs Nunes 2016 (1.2 million buys)
- UFC 116 – Lesnar vs Carwin 2010 (1.16 million buys)
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