Conor McGregor has been part of the biggest fights and events in UFC history. On Saturday, he anticipates the standard will be raised once again.
McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) has headlined the three highest-selling UFC pay-per-view events to date, but none of those have had the backstory of his UFC 264 headliner with Dustin Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC). It’s just the 14th trilogy fight in company history and is being touted as the biggest card of the year.
According to reports, the rematch between Poirier and McGregor from UFC 257 in January – which “The Diamond” won by second-round TKO – sold 1.6 million units. That trails only McGregor’s fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2019 for the highest selling in company history.
UFC 264, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, appears poised to rival the all-time record. McGregor, a former two-division UFC champion who is arguably the biggest star in the sport’s history, is setting the bar high.
He thinks it’s possible that a new benchmark is set, surpassing the current record of roughly 2.4 million.
“I’ll break records on the PPV,” McGregor told Rolling Stone. “I know that’s the expectation. I’ve been in big fights before, and it’s always electric, and this one will probably be the biggest so far. Having fans there this time is going to add even more to the atmosphere. So, I’m truly so excited, and I’m going to put on a show.”
UFC president Dana White shares McGregor’s optimism about the magnitude of UFC 264. Fight week hasn’t even hit its peak with the Poirier vs. McGregor press conference or final weigh-in faceoff, but White claims the event is already trending off the charts.
“Saturday night is going to be f*cking insane,” White told MMA Junkie. “Most celebrities ever at an event in the last 20 years, more pre-buys ever. All of you out there, if you know that you’re going to watch the fight on Saturday night, buy it now. Don’t wait until Saturday when 3 million other people are trying to do it and you have a hard time getting it in. We have the most pre-buys ever right now and believe me, go to ESPN+ and do it now.”
If McGregor and White are accurate in their assessment, it will be a massively lucrative night for everyone involved. Poirier did not receive a cut of the pay-per-view for the UFC 257 rematch, but he will for the trilogy fight.
Conor McGregor predicts UFC 264 will set PPV record: ‘That’s the expectation’