We all know that UFC 189 was a special event not only for fans but for the UFC and their fighters, who fought on that card. For weeks leading up to the original Jose Aldo – Conor McGregor fight, the event was expected to do one million pay-per-view buys according to UFC President Dana White. Even after that fight was changed to Chad Mendes – Conor McGregor, White was so confident that the fight would still do one million pay-per-view buys thanks to Mcgregor drawing power.
By looking at the interim UFC featherweight champion’s official UFC biography, it revealed that UFC 189 did the UFC’s expected PPV buy rate.
“The fight attracted a record 16,019 fans to the MGM Grand Garden Arena, plus a $7.2-million live gate and 1 million pay per view buys, proving McGregor’s sizable drawing power,” the UFC.com biography reads. “Some 3,000 Irish fans converged on Las Vegas and left deliriously happy.”
UFC 189 took place on July 11, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event aired on pay-per-view, Fox Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
The event was headlined by Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor for the interim UFC featherweight championship while the co-main event was a welterweight championship between Robbie Lawler (c) and Rory MacDonald.
The event did an announced attendance of 16,019 for a live gate of $7.2 million. White said at the post-fight press conference that the $7.2 million gate was a new United States record for MMA.
“It will do over a million. It’s already tracking at over a million buys,” Dana White said in media scrums leading up to the fight. “You lose a fighter like Jose Aldo and put Mendes in and we added to the gate. This fight is breaking every record, pre-buys on pay-per-view, traffic on the website, it’s bigger than UFC 100. This will be the biggest fight ever.”
The UFC is not a public company so they will most likely not reveal that actual PPV buy rate, but if it does those kinds of numbers then the promotion could obviously tout their success by issuing a press release about the number.
