UFC 196: Diaz vs. McGregor Scores Big PPV Numbers

This past Saturday’s UFC 196 pay-per-view event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada was epic, to say the least. After the event, not only was fans, media members and fighters were talking about the event, celebrities and mainstream media members were talking about it, which is very important for not only the sport but for the UFC’s business.

UFC President Dana White recently announced that the event earned 1.5 million PPV buys, which is almost as big as UFC 100, which is record for the most PPV buys that a UFC event has done. That event featured Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 2 for the heavyweight title and did 1.6 million buys.

“”People have been telling me ‘what are you going to do when Chuck Liddell retires?’ then ‘what are you going to do when GSP is gone?’ There is always new great fighters coming down the pipeline,” White told ESPN’s, Max & Marcellus. “””In this sport, we put the best against the best, or sometimes we do crazy stuff like on Saturday night, where Conor McGregor says ‘I want to fight Nate Diaz. I’ll fight him at 170 [pounds].’

“These are things that capture people’s imaginations. That is why the thing does 1.5 million PPV buys. That is because it captures the imaginations of fight fans.”

The main event for UFC 196 was Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout while Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate for the women’s bantamweight title was the co-main event at the event. 

The UFC returns to PPV with UFC 197 next month with Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2 for the light heavyweight title.