UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2 Appears to Have Broken UFC PPV Record
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.