Issue 139
March 2016
Record-breaking facts, figures and fees that prove why UFC featherweight champ McGregor is the brightest star in MMA
Few athletes in sports history can lay claim to have made an impact like Conor McGregor did in 2015. The Irishman’s rise has been quick and utterly dominant, and he’s certainly been rewarded for it. FO breaks down the last calendar year in ‘Notorious’ numbers to show just how everything he touched turned to gold.
The McGregor era has begun...
Kingpin: McGregor’S UFC featherweight records
5.35 shortest average fight time
+2.51 strike differential**
5 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses
6 knockouts
5.53 strikes landed per minute**
UFC 189 World Championship Tour
10 days
8 cities
5 countries
9,780,699 embedded Views on YouTube
UFC Fight Night 59
3.162 million peak number of main card viewers on Fox Sports 1
2.751 million record-breaking average viewership for the broadcaster
$220,000 disclosed payout for ‘Performance of the Night’ KO of Dennis Siver
UFC 189
11,500 weigh-in attendance – a record in Las Vegas
16,019 fight-night attendance – a then-record for a Vegas MMA event
2nd round KO of Chad Mendes, just as he predicted
74 strikes landed by McGregor vs. Mendes’ 36
1 million pay-per-view buys ****
The Ultimate Fighter Season 22
11-5 record for Conor’s Team Europe vs. Urijah Faber’s Team USA
27% increase in average viewers for the premier compared to TUF 21 (TUF 22: 622,000;TUF 21: 490,000)
745,000 TUF 22’s premier on FS1 attracted the highest peak audience for the show since 2013
522,000 average viewership through the season. The highest since TUF 19, featuring Ronda Rousey
UFC 194
#1 most watched weigh-in on Fox Sports 1
13 seconds: to put Aldo away after a year of hype
$622,000 earnings per second for McGregor ****
18 fights undefeated streak broken for Aldo, stretching back 10 years
$285k payout from Reebok – the highest in history
$10.1m gate that set a new record for a UFC card in the USA
16,516 record attendance for the UFC in the US
2015: By the Numbers
2/3 of the top selling PPVs headlined by ‘The Notorious’
$150,000 performance bonus payouts – tied for 2nd most
$1,170,000 disclosed fight purse earnings – highest in UFC
$10 million estimated cut of pay-per-view revenue ****
1st undisputed Irish UFC world champion
SOURCES: * UFC.com; ** Fightmetric; *** Nielsen ratings; **** Forbes
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