Conor McGregor will stay the UFC’s pay-per-view king without end following a monumental announcement.
On Monday, UFC CEO Dana White revealed the promotion had landed a seven-year $7.7 billion cope with Paramount to solely distribute all UFC occasions in the USA from 2026.
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The deal will mark the top of the UFC’s PPV mannequin below its earlier rights holders, ESPN.
Beginning subsequent 12 months, American followers now solely want entry to Paramount+ to observe each UFC occasion.
The change signifies that the promotion’s present report books, detailing its highest-selling PPV playing cards of all time, are seemingly set in stone without end.
And the person who seems in all seven of the organisation’s biggest-ever occasions could not be happier.
READ MORE ON CONOR MCGREGOR
“Lengthy reside the Irish king,” McGregor wrote on Instagram, responding to a graphic exhibiting his function in producing over $1 billion in mixed PPV buys in his 14-fight UFC profession.
“All McGregor,” he added in a follow-up submit that prompt the identical factor.
No matter what he is gone on to do, there is no denying McGregor’s standing because the undisputed PPV king of MMA’s premier promotion.
What’s the highest-selling UFC PPV ever?
McGregor’s 2018 bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 stays the highest-selling PPV card in promotional historical past.
Based on Tapology, solely Oscar De la Hoya vs Floyd Mayweather, McGregor’s 2017 boxing match with Mayweather, and Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao rank increased on the record of most PPV buys throughout fight sports activities.
The following six UFC occasions on the record had been all headlined by McGregor, too.
UFC playing cards with most PPV buys
‘All McGregor’
- UFC 229: Khabib vs McGregor – 2.4m
- UFC 257: Poirier vs McGregor 2 – 1.6m
- UFC 202: Diaz vs McGregor 2 – 1.6m
- UFC 264: Poirier vs McGregor 3 – 1.5m
- UFC 246: McGregor vs Cerrone 1.35m
- UFC 196: McGregor vs Diaz – 1.32m
- UFC 205: Alvarez vs McGregor – 1.3m
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The Irishman’s final two fights within the promotion, each in opposition to Dustin Poirier in 2021, function excessive up on the record.
McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg in a trilogy bout with Poirier in July of that 12 months, which adopted his second-round loss to ‘The Diamond’ of their rematch six months prior.
The 37-year-old bounced again from his well-known defeat to Khabib in 2018 by stopping Donald Cerrone in simply 40 seconds at UFC 246, which can also be among the many promotion’s highest-selling playing cards, producing over 1.35 million PPV buys.
Additionally a part of the UFC’s PPV catalogue are McGregor’s two well-known bouts with Nate Diaz.
McGregor suffered the primary defeat of his UFC profession to Diaz at UFC 196 in March 2016, earlier than avenging the defeat by outpointing ‘The Stockton slugger’ of their rematch 5 months later.
‘The Infamous’ then grew to become the promotion’s first-ever fighter to carry two belts concurrently, with an unbelievable knockout win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November of the identical 12 months.
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Now, he’s planning to return on the UFC White Home card in July 2026.
US President Donald Trump introduced final month that he plans to stage an occasion at his official residence as a part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations subsequent 12 months.
McGregor has since teased his comeback to combat on the cardboard, fuelling hypothesis by sharing information that he had given his first drug check pattern — a compulsory step for all fighters to contest a bout within the UFC.
He’s set to be joined on the cardboard by former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones, who formally re-entered the UFC’s anti-doping programme final week.
Nevertheless, some revered members of the MMA world, together with former UFC girls’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, aren’t too excited by McGregor’s return primarily based on current coaching footage.
Cyborg laughed at a current video posted by McGregor that confirmed him again in coaching, whereas others had been left doubting the power of the Irishman years on from his final outing.