Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we look at the return of Conor McGregor at UFC 246 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
McGregor handles Cowboy in 40 seconds
The return of Conor McGregor lasted just 40 seconds after he decimated Donald Cerrone with a flurry of shoulder strikes that stunned the Cowboy in the opening salvo of the first round of their main event. Cerrone appeared to have his nose broken and McGregor was able to finish off his opponent with several strikes after he had crumpled to the ground.
It was a subdued McGregor this time around for fight week but he still brought the violence on Saturday night. He now has his choice of fights coming up and he will have an abundance of opponents willing to take him on knowing that with the fight comes a big payday. As for Cerrone, he did not throw a strike in the fight and his last 3 fights have ended horribly for him (especially the last 2). While everyone is in agreement that he is a likable guy, its easy to tell that the ongoing fights without a break is taking a toll on him. He enjoys fighting and won’t stop. One would hope he sit out a little more this time around to get everything together.
Attendance, gate and bonusues
Regardless of McGregor’s personal troubles, he’s still a box office smash. His return to the uFC sparked the largest gate in Vegas since his fight with Khabib Nurmogomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018. Per Dana White post-event, UFC 246 drew 19,040 fans for a gate of $11,089,129.30.
There were 5 bonuses handed out at UFC 246 with McGregor, Aleksei Oleinik, Brian Kelleher, Diego Ferreira and Drew Dober. There was no fight of the night bonuses although there was an additional $50,000 given out.
Promotion of the Fight
With a Conor McGregor fight comes a lot of media. This time was even more important as McGregor’s legal troubles are still in play in Ireland. He did several one on ones with key media figures including ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. Helwani did ask McGregor the question of his sexual assault investigation.
McGregor did say that he would make $80 million from this fight alone which seems like posturing.
Budweiser produced Cowboy Cerrone cans in the Vegas area. Since its not an official UFC sponsor (that would be Modelo), it would not be able to support Cerrone in the arena at UFC 246 so it produced cans with his likeness for fight week.
As the opponent to the biggest UFC draw in company history, Cerrone did his share of interviews including an awkward one with the guys at First Take.
A press conference was held prior to UFC 246 and everyone was in the spirit of talking about the fight except for one reporter who was rudely shouted down by everyone except for McGregor.
Despite McGregor’s disclosed pay at $3 million, he told Ariel Helwani he’d be making $80 million for his fight with Cerrone. While we should probably take the number with a grain of salt, he was the highest paid fighter on the card. Cerrone’s disclosed pay was $200,000 to show and another $200,000 if he had won.
Claudia Gadelhia was given her show money despite her fight with Alex Grasso getting scrapped.
Sponsorships
The octagon was packed with sponsor. Toyo Tires, Nemiroff, U.S. Air Force, Poker Stars, Modelo, P3, Monster and 7 Eleven shared a stanchion, Pari Match, Proper 12, Devour, Van Heusen, Roar Sports, Body Armor, Jimmy Johns, Manscaped had the outer Octagon as well as the fighter prep point and Monster had the center of the Octagon. Interesting that Jimmy Johns re-appeared on the Octagon mats.
Reebok announced a collaboration with Conor McGregor to launch a new shoe. McGregor teased the collaboration on his social media page. The Reebok Zig Kinetica is set to release on February 21st. As a prelude to the release, all athletes and ring ladies were given the shoes to wear.
Odds and Ends
Notably, the UFC Prelims started late due to the Duke-Louisville game.
This was the first time that I recall that the UFC PPV went to the larger than life outdoor graphics.
Ticket demand was at its biggest since UFC 229.
The Las Vegas Review Journal put out an article stating that UFC 229 produced $86.4 million for the region as a result of McGregor’s last event. This would seem to indicate that this time around would see similar returns.
Biggest upset up the night was Roxanne Modefferi defeating Maycee Barber. Second biggest had to be Diego Fierra defeating Anthony Pettis.
Also of note, Pettis telling Ariel Helwani that he would be suing USADA after he cut his hand on a glass bottle prior to his fight against Nate Diaz this past August.
Conclusion
The report is that the metrics reflect a buy rate of 2 million under the old PPV system which reflects the popularity of McGregor no matter what legal troubles he might have. ESPN did a full media blitz throughout the past weeks which helped, but McGregor’s star appeal has not waned since he lost in October 2018.
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