White: Mayweather-McGregor broke PPV record
It appears as though "The Money Fight" has lived up to its billing.
Floyd Mayweather's summer superfight with Conor McGregor has pulled 6.7 million pay-per-view buys worldwide and claimed the buyrate record in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Spain, UFC president Dana White told the Wall Street Journal recently.
The matchup had been expected to compete with - if not surpass - the revenue produced by "The Fight of the Century" between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Showtime has not yet confirmed White's claims, although network exec Stephen Espinoza recently said the numbers were trending towards a combat sports best.
McGregor - who fell to Mayweather by 10th-round TKO - has fought in two of the UFC's three highest-selling pay-per-views of all time, both of which netted less than half the buyrate of his professional boxing debut, and is now partially responsible for breaking a record Mayweather and Pacquiao set in 2015 with 4.6 million domestic buys - assuming White's figures are accurate.
The bout fell well short of the live gate record, however - one also set by Mayweather versus Pacquiao - drawing $55,414,865 in ticket sales at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena to its predecessor's $72,198,500.
Between their guaranteed fight purses, sponsorships, and take of the pay-per-view, both Mayweather and McGregor are projected to have pocketed nine-figure paydays for their August tilt.