It’s been a full month since the historic boxing showdown between Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. We still don’t have an official buyrate for domestic (AKA US-based) pay-per-view buys, but in the aftermath of Mayweather’s 10th round TKO over McGregor, there was optimism that it would surpass the 4.6 million buys for Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao.
According to a report from BoxingScene, Mayweather vs. McGregor will come up just short of breaking the record, but it’s still a phenomenal number.
BoxingScene.com has learned that Mayweather-McGregor is expected to have generated approximately 4.4 million domestic pay-per-view buys and that an official announcement could be made as soon as this week.
That would mean that the highly publicized spectacle between boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC superstar Conor McGregor, while wildly successful financially, didn’t break the pay-per-view record for combat sports. Mayweather’s maligned win against Manny Pacquiao still owns that distinction.
This news comes just a couple of weeks after Sky Sports announced that the mega-fight exceeded one million buys in the United Kingdom, quickly surpassing the previous mark held by April’s Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko.
Of course, much like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, there were numerous issues for customers who wanted to purchase the pay-per-view. The main event start time for Mayweather vs. McGregor was delayed as a result of the technical hiccups, and both the UFC and Showtime issued full refunds to those who didn’t get what they paid for. Illegal streaming was also a popular option for fans who weren’t interested in the card’s $99.95 HD price tag.
So it looks as if Mayweather vs. McGregor will have to settle for second place in terms of gate revenue and US-based pay-per-view buys, but it was still an enormous financial success that destroys every other combat sports event except Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
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