Conor McDollar Set To Deliver Record-Breaking Pay-Per-Views For UFC 229 Saturday
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas-based UFC, which relies on pay-per-view buys for a significant share of its annual revenues, believes Saturday’s UFC 229 fight show featuring colorful bad boy former two-division champ Conor McGregor will deliver the most PPVs in organization history.
UFC, owned by entertainment giant Endeavor, is also expecting more than 20,000 people in T-Mobile Arena Saturday and is trending a gate of more than $16 million after putting standing room only tickets on the market this week, said Lawrence Epstein, UFC chief operating officer.
“Conor is a big part of it,” Epstein said.
McGregor, the brash-talking 30-year-old Irishman who is returning to the Octagon for the first time since Nov. 12, 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez, helped drive UFC’s current record for PPVs when he fought Nate Diaz at UFC 2002, which drew 1.65 million pay-per-view buys Aug. 20, 2016.
Epstein said Saturday’s PPVs can be in the 2 million – 3 million range. PPV is $64,99 for UFC 229. Two million buys at $64.99 per buy would generate nearly $130 million for UFC, which sold for more than $4 billion in the summer of 2016.
McGregor (21-3) has spent the past week verbally needling his lightweight title foe, undefeated and Russian-born Khabib Nurmagomedov (26-0). McGregor weighed in at 154.5 pounds, and Nurmagomedov came in at 155 pounds Friday.
UFC’s top gate was $17.7 million thanks to attendance of 20,427 at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden Nov. 12, 2016 when McGregor defeated Alvarez.
Epstein said Saturday’s gate could challenge UFC’s $17.7 million record.
No sports organization produces more of its original content than UFC, which develops everything from its PPV programming to its subscription-based Fight Pass to Dana White’s TV show, “Lookin’ for a Fight.”
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UFC also has a five-year, $1.5 billion partnership with ESPN and its various platforms.
There was other value in that deal because ESPN’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company, gives UFC a better chance to forge more sponsorship and corporate partnership deals because of Disney connection through the ESPN media agreement with UFC, Epstein said. Thanks to the Disney connection, UFC doesn’t come off with that edgy reputation that may have keep companies from wanting to partner with UFC in the past, he said.
Epstein also believed McGregor’s crossover boxing match/sports spectacle with former boxing champ Floyd Mayweather also boosted his popularity and helped PPV sales.
UFC President Dana White has said that McGregor’s outlandish behavior in Brooklyn, NY when he tossed a dolly onto a bus window at the Barclays Center loading dock in Brooklyn in April was not a media stunt. Though, it’s clear that McGregor is UFC’s meal ticket and gets away with behavior that would get most workers fired.
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