If you thought the Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz hype was already over the top, wait until the fighters find out their UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2 pay-per-view might be the biggest grossing non-boxing event in pay-per-view history.
According to a report from MMAFighting.com’s Dave Meltzer, who is considered the foremost expert on MMA pay-per-view numbers, Diaz vs. McGregor 2 is trending to hit 1.65 million pay-per-view buys. If that proves to be accurate, it would make the Diaz vs. McGregor rematch the top selling pay-per-view in UFC history.
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The UFC’s top mark was previously held by the pair for their UFC 196 headlining bout. According to Meltzer, their first match-up did 1.6 million buys, which topped the blockbuster UFC 100, headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 2.
The lead-up to the Diaz vs. McGregor rematch was fairly quiet until the pre-fight press conference. Both fighters showed up late – McGregor was about 30 minutes tardy – and then the press conference quickly devolved into a bottle-throwing incident between McGregor and Diaz’s camp.
That skirmish was likely the drama that pushed the pay-per-view to new heights.
UFC 202 was the third time this year that the promotion has topped 1 million buys, but they still have UFC 205 in New York and UFC 207 on New Year’s weekend to try and cap off a blockbuster year, which saw UFC ownership change hands in a $4 billion deal.
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