5 Highest Selling Conor McGregor Pay Per Views
Conor McGregor is money. Pure and simple. His net worth stands at $85 million as of 2018, which makes him by far the richest MMA fighter in the world.
The 30-year-old has been a professional fighter since 2008 and over the course of a decade has become one of the most recognisable sporting figures in the world.
As the UFC's biggest star, it perhaps makes absolute sense then, that he is responsible for four of the five highest drawing UFC pay per view cards in company history. The one exception is UFC 100, which was a historic show headlined by another mega draw, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar.
"Notorious" made his UFC debut back in spring 2013, after previously competing for the UK based Cage Warriors promotion. He smashed through Marcus Brimage in just 67 seconds earning him Knockout of the Night honours. From there he made his name when he overcame Max Holloway with a famous Unanimous Decision victory, which was only the American's second loss.
McGregor then began to quickly move up the card and knocked off huge names such as: Dustin Poirier, Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo, Eddie Alvarez, Nate Diaz and Eddie Alvarez. This run saw him win both the Featherweight and Lightweight titles, as he became the first UFC fighter to hold two titles simultaneously.
After clashing with the legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a Boxing match in 2016, McGregor finally returned to the Octagon in October 2018 in a one-sided loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov. That proved to be his final ever MMA fight.
On March 26, 2019, McGregor announced his retirement from MMA. It is a retirement that has come out of left field as the Irishman was in training for his next fight.
It could be a power play to earn more money. It would be hard to see UFC President, Dana White not do everything in his power to keep McGregor in MMA and UFC.
After all, he remains the most successful draw in MMA history.
This slideshow looks at the most successful McGregor headlined UFC events in history.
#5 UFC 205 (1.3 million buys)
By the time November 2016 rolled around, a Conor McGregor fight was a heavily anticipated event.
It stands to reason therefore, that UFC 205 pulled a mammoth 1.3 million buys on pay per view.
McGregor successfully defeated Eddie Alvarez to win the Lightweight title and add that strap to the Featherweight Championship he already held to become the first UFC fighter to hold two titles simultaneously.
Alvarez was made to look like a preliminary fighter as he could not avoid McGregor's brutal left hand.
His performance was worth every penny to those who paid to watch as he knocked out Alvarez in the second round to make history. That finish came after McGregor had knocked the champion down three times in the first round.
If anyone doubted at this point that McGregor was the real deal then this performance silenced those doubters.