Conor McGregor’s return to the UFC has provided the sport with a shot in the arm. Tickets for the bout against Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas on 6th October sold out in three minutes, at all prices from $205 to $2,505.
It is approaching two years since he won the RTÉ Sports Personality of the Year but it has been a poor year for McGregor since he ensured his becoming one of the richest stars in world sport through his crossover fight with Floyd Mayweather last summer.
Court appearance in Ireland and New York have shown a dark side to the showman’s magnetic personality and it will be good for him as well as the sport to get back into the Octagon.
The fight will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas and it is already the highest grossing UFC fight to take place in the gambling mecca. The highest anywhere was in New York’s Madison Square Garden when McGregor also topped the bill against Eddie Alvarez.
There will be plenty of Irish fans making the trip but the fight will also be shown Pay Per View here. The UK and Ireland rights will remain with BT Sport, and eir Sport here until the end of 2018.
After that though, the suggestion in MMA circles is that they will move to Eleven Sports who started streaming live sports content here this month and who have rights to Serie A and La Liga for the next three years.
McGregor’s value to the sport is clear from the decline in viewing audiences in 2017, when he did not fight, versus the previous year.
TV audiences judged by the number of buys of the Pay Per View stream fell from an average of 632,000 to less than half that at 309,000.
The average gate for shows that were being broadcast on pay per view also fell steeply from an average of $5.5 million to one of $2.6 million.
McGregor’s return has shown once more his value to the sport. Expect more of the megaphone diplomacy we have seen in the past relating to his cut in the run-up to and certainly the aftermath of his next fight.
His absence has made the heart grow fonder for his fans. It is now also undeniable that his presence has a stronger than previously admitted impact on the bottom line of the sport.
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