At UFC 205, featherweight champion Conor McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez to win the lightweight championship, becoming the only UFC fighter in history to hold two titles at once. At the post-match press conference, he demanded an equity stake in the company for his contribution as one of the biggest ever draws in the UFC, a title not completely undeserved as astoundingly, his pay-per-views drew more buys than the entire roster of the UFC in 2014.
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Statistics released by dedicated MMA website, MMAPayout.com show that the Irish fighter has brought in 3.5 million buys in only his first 12 months of headlining events. In these 12 months, the “Notorious One” only fought thrice.
By comparison, the entire UFC roster managed an estimated 3-3.2 million buys in the year 2014. The buys for McGregor’s first three pay-per-views from July 2015 to March 2016 alone brought in more than the entire UFC in 2014.
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What is even more astounding is the fact the McGregor has fought four times in the past 12 months, each of them big ticket buys. He defeated Jose Aldo in December last year to win the featherweight championship, lost to Nate Diaz and won the rematch, before defeating Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight championship in November 2016.
The preliminary prediction for UFC 205 was 1.6 million buys. This estimation would mean that Conor McGregor has drawn in a huge 6 million buys in a 12 month period, easily justifying his demand for shares in the UFC as the most attractive wrestler on its roster.
The Irish wrestler easily outperforms his contemporaries in terms of attracting audiences. Ronda Rousey, who has often been called the biggest fighter in the UFC, brought in 5.1 million buys in seven pay-per-view events, with an average of 7,30,000 buys per event. The Irishman’s worst three pay-per-views have drawn more buys than Rousey’s best three pay-per-views.
At this rate, Conor McGregor is well on course to overhaul the legendary Georges St. Pierre, who accumulated 10.5 million buys over his 14 fights with an average of 7,50,000 buys per event. McGregor’s first three pay-per-views have accumulated more buys than Georges St. Pierre’s best ever pay-per-views throughout his career.
Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar were the UFC’s biggest ever draws in 2010, which was arguably UFC’s best ever year. Their pay-per-views raked in 8.8 million buys. Such is Conor McGregor’s popularity that he is singlehandedly on course to eclipse the combined buys of UFC’s biggest drawing stars in its best ever year. Nobody in UFC history has ever drawn 1.5 million buys in consecutive fights, ever. McGregor has drawn 4.5million buys from just three fights in the whole of 2016.
