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Conor McGregor fights accounted for over half of UFC's pay-per-view buys in 2016

Conor McGregor fights accounted for over half of UFC's pay-per-view buys in 2016
Conor McGregor fights accounted for over half of UFC's pay-per-view buys in 2016 Conor McGregor fights accounted for over half of UFC's pay-per-view buys in 2016

Conor McGregor doesn’t tire of telling the UFC how important he is to their business, and the pay-per-view (PPV) numbers from 2016 back up his point completely.

Not only was McGregor’s rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202 the highest grossing PPV event in the history of MMA, the cards headlined by McGregor accounted for 50.3% of the year’s PPV buys, according to MMA News.

The Notorious played a huge part in bringing in 4,217,000 PPV buys for his appearances at UFC 196, 202 and 205, and even broke the all-time record for a gate at the famous Madison Square Garden at the latter.

McGregor, Ronda Rousey, and possibly Brock Lesnar proved pivotal in a great year for UFC, while championship fights suffered.

Rousey’s much-anticipated UFC 207 return was one of five cards over the year to achieve over one million buys, but McGregor’s headlining slots took the top three positions on the list.

But despite it being the most successful year ever for the UFC as a whole, it doesn’t look like the momentum will carry into 2017.

The Notorious has no fights scheduled while he focuses on starting a family, nobody knows whether Rousey will choose to fight again following her most recent loss, and Lesnar is suspended until the summer and turns 40, so his UFC career is also in doubt.