Brock Lesnar Is Fine With Conor McGregor Claiming Bigger PPV Numbers

When UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor was embroiled in a beef with the UFC over his removal from July’s UFC 200 card, the brash Irishman went on a Twitter rant that included claims that he has the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) numbers in company history:

It is not safe to say. It is fact to say.
I hold PPV, Gate, TV, Fightpass and Embedded record.
Even Title fight KO. https://t.co/nqwoQSap9A

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 2, 2016

Years before the Irishman was main eventing PPV events, however, a man named Brock Lesnar sat atop major UFC PPV bills himself and crushed numbers in the process.

Lesnar is set to make his long-awaited UFC return against Mark Hunt at UFC 200, and in a recent interview with ESPN ‘The Beast’ was asked on his thoughts of McGregor’s recent ‘record-holder’ comments:

“I’ve got no qualms with anybody,” Lesnar said. “If somebody wants to state they are the biggest pay-per-view draw in the world, I don’t care.

I’ve never came out and said, ‘Hey, listen, I hold the most pay-per-view buys.’ All I know is what I got paid, and I’m happy to do so. I’m a prizefighter. I don’t hang my championships on the wall because they don’t pay the bills.”

Lesnar was then asked on his personal thoughts on the Irish champion and his trash-talking ways:

“I don’t know him, but I know of Conor McGregor,” Lesnar said. “This sport has evolved even from the first time that I entered into the octagon.

I think people are finding out that you have to talk the talk, and more importantly you have to walk the walk. For guys that can talk and walk the walk, I think it’s great. It’s great for the company.”

While Lesnar enjoys the hefty paycheck that comes along with stepping inside the Octagon, the former heavyweight king is adamant that he does it for the true love of the sport:

“I’m a prizefighter; I fight for money,” Lesnar said. “They’re making money, I’m making money, everyone’s making money – that’s what this is all about. More importantly, it’s not about the money to me. I’ve always said money is very important to me, but you can’t step inside the octagon just for the money. This is in my heart. It just so happens I’m making a boatload of money.”

Lesnar is set to throw down with Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200, live on PPV from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9, 2016.

McGregor is set to rematch Stockton native Nate Diaz, the man who handed him his first and only UFC career loss, in the main event of UFC 202 live on PPV from the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 20, 2016.