While he certainly had his promoter’s hat on, UFC President Dana White said Thursday that UFC 229 could rival Mayweather-McGregor numbers.
UFC 229 goes down Saturday, and is trending to be one of if not the biggest UFC events in history. Anyone not living under a rock and even vaguely a fan of MMA is no doubt aware that Conor McGregor will meet Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event. And while there’s a stacked undercard below that including names like Tony Ferguson, Anthony Pettis, and Derrick Lewis, it’s McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov that is the selling point.
The grudge match, thanks to McGregor attacking a bus in Brooklyn at UFC 223 in April, on which Nurmagomedov was seated. That, retaliation for Nurmagomedov and his team cornering one of McGregor’s teammates, Artem Lobov, earlier that week.
The classic stylistic match-up, with a talented striker (McGregor) and an undefeated grappler (Nurmagomedov).
One of the big questions leading into UFC 229 has been not about the fight itself, but the business side of the event. Just how big will it be? UFC President Dana White has consistently said the event is trending towards over two million buys, and elaborated on the number at the final press conference prior to Saturday night (McGregor, arriving just a wee bit late at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, later suggested over three million buys).
“The tracking, all the numbers are tracking higher than Mayweather-McGregor,” said White, who pointed out that the bout was a global fight. “It’s huge. It’s massive. I obviously don’t want to come out and say we’re going to do Mayweather-McGregor numbers, but we could possibly do Mayweather-McGregor numbers.”
Asked about the hype leading into UFC 229 in comparison to other sports, White looked to some of boxing’s biggest nights.
“If you look at the history of big fights in boxing or any other sport, to get over two million PPV buys is almost impossible,” White said Thursday. “If you look at some of the biggest ones, Mayweather and De La Hoya, Mayweather and Canelo, Tyson and, I don’t even think Tyson and Lennox Lewis broke two million. It didn’t, right? Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson didn’t even break two million PPV buys.”
“So it’s big, it’s very hard to do, and this thing is trending to smash two million,” he added. “I would say the hype for this fight is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
UFC 229 takes place Saturday, October 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
