Dana White talked up Conor McGregor’s return, saying his fight with Michael Chandler will generate over a $20 million live gate.
This would be the first time that the UFC has hit that mark. McGregor makes his long-awaited comeback since breaking his leg in his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021 on June 29 in Las Vegas. There is anticipation of how McGregor will bounce back from a career-threatening injury. The Chandler fight has been built up since their rivalry on the TUF 31 series.
McGregor’s previous fights have shown he is a big attraction. His 2016 fight with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 produced a gate of $17.7 million. The Irishman put on a great performance, stopping Alvarez to become the first UFC two-weight champion. In 2017, McGregor’s fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov drew in a gate of $17,188,895. While McGregor came up short, the fight produced a PPV record, producing 2.4 million buys. Now, McGregor will go one step further.
White On McGregor
“It’s already way over $20 million,” White said
A large part of that has been the ticket prices. The VIP tickets will cost over $12,000. McGregor is a crossover star who has mass appeal. He also broadened his appeal, making his Hollywood debut in Road House. The film succeeded, with McGregor getting rave reviews for his performance. The film also broke Amazon streaming records, drawing in 50 million viewers globally in the first two weeks.
McGregor’s upcoming gate silences the criticism that the UFC has faced for not doing the numbers that boxing has done. During his time at Showtime, Stephen Espinoza hit out at the UFC, calling out how Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo was the third gate in 2023 to go over $20 million, something the UFC had not done.
Espinoza Vs. White
“This event on Saturday night will generate a gate of over $20 million. That’s a rare feat in combat sports. This will be the third time in the last six months that we’ve done a gate of $20 million. To put that in perspective, UFC has never done a gate of $20 million in its entire history. We’ve done it three times since April,” Espinoza revealed
“That’s exactly the type of response I would expect from that weasel Espinoza…He has absolutely nothing to do with the success of Canelo, Ryan Garcia, and Terrence Crawford. Those guys are megastars and they are the ones responsible for driving the gates in their fights. For him to even try and take any credit at all shows you exactly what an arrogant, delusional POS that guy is.
“For this clown to talk about ‘levels’ is hilarious. The production of the fights on Showtime is an embarrassment and I have been saying that forever. He is a little guy with a big yap and is a complete phony. I’m not at all surprised this is the end for them. It should have come way sooner. Sorry to see you go, Weasel, enjoy your retirement,” White replied
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