It seems that the return of Conor McGregor made the great success of the business that many predicted.
According to a report Monday in the Sports Business Journal (subscription required), ESPN + recorded 1.2 million purchases per payment for UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi, which was headlined by DKO Poirier’s victory in the second round of TKO on McGregor in a slight rematch. Another 400,000 international purchases put the brand at 1.6 million.
Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie reported a day before that 1.6 million was the flat for shopping.
UFC is not a publicly traded company and does not disclose financial information. Early reports of pay-per-view purchases do not mention whether the company had to issue a significant number of returns after reports of widespread live broadcast access issues by viewers who had purchased the event.
Either way, if the 1.6 million purchases are maintained, this would make UFC 257 one of the highlights of the company’s history. UFC 229, with Khabib Numagomedov’s win over Conor McGregor, made 2.4 million purchases, while UFC 202, with McGregor’s majority decision to beat Nate Diaz, was good for 1.65 million purchases .