Conor McGregor is the biggest UFC superstar the world has ever seen. But UFC’s rising star Paddy Pimblett is also following in McGregor’s footsteps and is on the path of becoming the promotion’s next big superstar.
With only three UFC appearances, ‘The Baddy’ has become a huge fan favorite. Pimblett has a lot of hype around him and he knows how to back it up very well. Recently, he has proposed to fight McGregor and a super fight between him and ‘The Notorious’ would be the “biggest PPV the UFC has ever seen”. Pimblett said:
“It would be the biggest pay-per-view that the UFC has ever seen like put it that way, goes without saying. But I think when Conor comes back, he’ll be fighting at 170. He’ll struggle to make 155 now, to be honest.”
Pimblett is already a bonafide superstar with his incredible skill set and on top of that, his post-fight interviews and trash talks are a thing to watch. In the post-fight interview of his recent fight against Jordan Leavitt, he gave an emotional speech regarding men’s mental health that went viral.
Just like McGregor, ‘The Baddy’ can also garner big PPV numbers and in his recent outing at UFC London it was proven. It seems like Pimblett is big enough for a typical Fight Night event and the UFC president Dana White certainly thinks about putting ‘The Baddy’ as a PPV headliner soon.
However, Pimblett is still new to the promotion and has a long way to catch up to the Irishman but he believes this fight is a possibility. But the Scouser is a huge McGregor fan and said that he respects the Irishman for his contribution to the sport.
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McGregor and Pimblett have a good relationship right now, but the two of them could certainly face each other which would bring in huge pay-per-views. However, McGregor is too big for a lightweight now and is aiming for a welterweight title fight on his return.
Conor McGregor PPV buys: How many PPVs has McGregor sold in his UFC career?
Conor McGregor is not only the highest-paid athlete in the promotion but he also brings the highest PPV numbers. In his whole UFC career, the Irishman has sold 13,195,429 UFC PPV buys. However, this number is an estimation as the official number is not available.
In his last fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, McGregor sold 1.6 million buys. However, ‘The Notorious’ lost in that bout but the hype and built-up leading up to the trilogy attracted every fight fans’ attention.
UFC 264 – Poirier vs. McGregor III: 1,600,000
UFC 257 – Poirier vs. McGregor II: 1,600,000
UFC 246 – McGregor vs. Cerrone: 1,353,429
UFC 229 – Khabib vs. McGregor: 2,400,000
UFC 205 – Alvarez vs. McGregor: 1,300,000
UFC 202 – Diaz vs. McGregor II: 1,600,000
UFC 196 – McGregor vs. Diaz: 1,317,000
UFC 194 – Aldo vs. McGregor: 1,200,000
UFC 189 – Mendes vs. McGregor: 825,000
Total PPV buys: 13,195,429
McGregor’s biggest PPV buys to this day came from his grudge match against former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. The Irishman barely makes an appearance in the octagon but still manages to be the top-paid athlete in the promotion.
‘The Notorious’ is the richest MMA fighter in the world and grabbed Forbes’ top-paid athlete of 2021 surpassing big athletes from other sports. Recently, McGregor also grabbed the No.1 spot for the fastest-earning athlete of 2022.
