Conor McGregor Predicts UFC 200 Won't Reach 1.5 Million Buys
Conor McGregor Predicts UFC 200 Won't Reach 1.5 Million Buys
Conor McGregor still isn't on July's UFC 200 card, but that isn't stopping him from sharing his thoughts on the event with the world.
Conor McGregor still isn't on July's UFC 200 card, but that isn't stopping him from sharing his thoughts on the event with the world.
McGregor, who was pulled from his main event with Nate Diaz due to his refusal to participate in a press tour last week, took some time today for a rare Twitter Q&A with fans. During the session, McGregor made a few startling proclamations. And if what he claims is true, McGregor may have revealed an important tidbit about the pay per view buyrate of UFC 100, long considered the highest-selling event in the promotion's history.
McGregor started by essentially pretending that he's still fighting Diaz on UFC 200.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727146193617346560" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
He followed it up by completely ignoring what actually happened the last time he faced Diaz.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727148128055484416" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
McGregor then took a jab at the UFC, predicting that UFC 200 as it currently stands would not reach 1.5 million pay per view buys. He also predicted the card would've broken the all-time pay per view record set by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao last year, which is an amazing claim on so many levels.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727155691585196032" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
He insisted he would be returning to defend his featherweight title at the end of the year. Multiple sources have insisted for months that McGregor will never fight at 145 pounds again due to the strenuous weight cut. People change their minds, but McGregor has added a lot of muscle since he last fought at featherweight.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727162960498561024" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
And then came the truly interesting part, especially for long-time observers of the sport. McGregor claimed he holds every record in the book and has surpassed Brock Lesnar as the biggest draw in the history of mixed martial arts.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727164364189499392" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
The UFC does not publicly reveal pay per view numbers, so any reports on pay per view buys are estimates. Dave Meltzer reported in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter after the event that UFC 100 scored 1.6 million pay per view buys, a record that has never been broken. But without access to hard data, much of the discussion around the UFC's pay per view events is nothing more than guesswork.
But McGregor does have access to hard data. As a fighter who receives pay per view buys, he is given the option of auditing the financial records for his events, and would thus be one of the few people outside the company who have seen the UFC's true pay per view buys. Sources close to McGregor told us last fall that McGregor and his team audit his pay per view events on a regular basis.
So McGregor has access to the UFC's actual numbers, which makes his following tweet even more interesting.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727168629528236034" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
If UFC 100's estimated buyrate was 1.6 million, and McGregor's bout with Diaz pulled 400,000 more as he claimed, it means UFC 196 went over 2 million pay per view buys. We're not saying that's an impossibility. But the UFC loves breaking records and announcing those records. If they'd gone past the 2 million buy mark, you think they wouldn't break their own rule and announce that number as loudly as possible?
No. They would. What it actually means, if McGregor is telling the truth, is that UFC 100 did a far lower buyrate than we thought, likely in the 1.2 million range.
Or McGregor could be pulling the same stunt he did last week when he announced to the world he was back on UFC 200. You never know, and that's what makes him so intriguing.
McGregor, who was pulled from his main event with Nate Diaz due to his refusal to participate in a press tour last week, took some time today for a rare Twitter Q&A with fans. During the session, McGregor made a few startling proclamations. And if what he claims is true, McGregor may have revealed an important tidbit about the pay per view buyrate of UFC 100, long considered the highest-selling event in the promotion's history.
McGregor started by essentially pretending that he's still fighting Diaz on UFC 200.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727146193617346560" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
He followed it up by completely ignoring what actually happened the last time he faced Diaz.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727148128055484416" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
McGregor then took a jab at the UFC, predicting that UFC 200 as it currently stands would not reach 1.5 million pay per view buys. He also predicted the card would've broken the all-time pay per view record set by Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao last year, which is an amazing claim on so many levels.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727155691585196032" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
He insisted he would be returning to defend his featherweight title at the end of the year. Multiple sources have insisted for months that McGregor will never fight at 145 pounds again due to the strenuous weight cut. People change their minds, but McGregor has added a lot of muscle since he last fought at featherweight.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727162960498561024" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
And then came the truly interesting part, especially for long-time observers of the sport. McGregor claimed he holds every record in the book and has surpassed Brock Lesnar as the biggest draw in the history of mixed martial arts.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727164364189499392" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
The UFC does not publicly reveal pay per view numbers, so any reports on pay per view buys are estimates. Dave Meltzer reported in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter after the event that UFC 100 scored 1.6 million pay per view buys, a record that has never been broken. But without access to hard data, much of the discussion around the UFC's pay per view events is nothing more than guesswork.
But McGregor does have access to hard data. As a fighter who receives pay per view buys, he is given the option of auditing the financial records for his events, and would thus be one of the few people outside the company who have seen the UFC's true pay per view buys. Sources close to McGregor told us last fall that McGregor and his team audit his pay per view events on a regular basis.
So McGregor has access to the UFC's actual numbers, which makes his following tweet even more interesting.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/727168629528236034" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
If UFC 100's estimated buyrate was 1.6 million, and McGregor's bout with Diaz pulled 400,000 more as he claimed, it means UFC 196 went over 2 million pay per view buys. We're not saying that's an impossibility. But the UFC loves breaking records and announcing those records. If they'd gone past the 2 million buy mark, you think they wouldn't break their own rule and announce that number as loudly as possible?
No. They would. What it actually means, if McGregor is telling the truth, is that UFC 100 did a far lower buyrate than we thought, likely in the 1.2 million range.
Or McGregor could be pulling the same stunt he did last week when he announced to the world he was back on UFC 200. You never know, and that's what makes him so intriguing.