One thing’s for sure… Put Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz in a fenced enclosure and people will pay to see them settle their differences.
In the build-up to the second meeting of the rivals, suggestions were made that the viewership figures would be hindered by the lack of hype that came with McGregor’s decision to tone down his media appearances.
But one exchange of bottles and cans across an expanse of media members seems to have changed everything as estimates of UFC 202’s pay-per-view success suggest that it has broken the previous record.
MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer, an expert on the subject, has revealed that UFC 202’s pay-per-view buy-rate is set to exceed that of UFC 196, the card that was also headlined by McGregor and Diaz for their first meeting back in the spring.
March’s UFC 196 earned an estimated 1.6m buys while the rematch surpassed that figure, with Meltzer claiming that the most recent estimates point towards a 1.65m buyrate for UFC 202.
The August 20 event also saw records broken in terms of purses as ‘The Notorious’ became the first fighter to receive a disclosed purse of $3m, outdoing Brock Lesnar’s $2.5m payday from UFC 200.
Records were also smashed inside the Octagon as Diaz became the fighter to have landed most strikes in the UFC, with his 252 in August leading to an overall 1,926 strikes in the Octagon. The Stockton fighter also earned the 15th post-fight bonus of his career, setting a new record.
Nate Diaz sets a new record for most post-fight bonuses in UFC history with 15. What a fighter.
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) August 21, 2016
McGregor’s post-fight bonus also made history as he became the first UFC fighter to earn a post-fight bonus in seven consecutive fights.
It just seems that whenever this pair square off, records tumble.
We just can’t wait for that trilogy fight.
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