Conor McGregor, king of pay-per-view? Dana White says UFC 205 broke that record (and more)

It’s apparently good to be in the Conor McGregor business.

Following Saturday’s mega UFC 205 event, which marked the organization’s long-awaited New York City debut, UFC President Dana White said the pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden broke numerous records.

Chief among them, though, was the UFC’s PPV record. The UFC doesn’t publicly disclose PPV buy rates (though MMAjunkie learned a few details by acquiring some UFC investor documents). However, White recently suggested UFC 202 would likely outpace the previous record-holder, UFC 100, which reportedly drew 1.6 million buys.

UFC 100 was a milestone 2009 event with a deep fight card. UFC 202, which featured a McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch in August, then apparently broke it. Now, with McGregor again on top of the card, UFC 205 appears to be the new high-water mark – just at “Notorious” predicted.

“We did,” White said when asked if UFC 205 was the new top dog. “We broke the record.”

In this past Saturday’s UFC 205 headliner, featherweight champ McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) became the first fighter in UFC history to simultaneously hold two belts when he dethroned lightweight titleholder Eddie Alvarez (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) via second-round TKO.

UFC executives won’t know the official tallies for weeks or even months to come, but they use various metrics to determine how an event is “tracking.” UFC 205 was apparently tracking quite well.

As reported over the weekend, UFC 205 also set a UFC live-gate record with $17.7 million, thanks to the 20,427 attendees who dished out big bucks for the can’t-miss event. UFC 205 also set a Madison Square Garden live-gate record.

However, White suggested that record could stand for quite some time; after all, “Jesus is going to have to fight the devil” to break it. Additionally, the hefty ticket prices for UFC 205 were too much for many fans.

“We definitely priced fans out,” he said. “I mean, there’s no doubt that that did happen. It’s not one of my favorite things to do, but basically … it’s dynamic pricing. It’s no different than a plane ticket. When there’s so much demand a plane ticket goes up. That’s what happened.”

UFC 205 could also prove to be a record-breaker in other ways, he said.

“We broke every record in UFC history tonight – every record,” White said after UFC 205. “The only one I’m waiting on now is the FOX number – how we did on (FS1). It would be really, really weird and make no sense if we didn’t break that one too.”

White, of course, is referring to the FS1-televised prelims that lead into the PPV main card. The four-bout lineup, which concluded with ex-champ Frankie Edgar (21-5-1 MMA, 15-5-1 UFC) picking up a decision victory over featherweight Jeremy Stephens (25-13 MMA, 12-12 UFC), could top UFC 194’s prelim record of approximately 2 million viewers. (UFC 194, perhaps unsurprisingly, also featured McGregor in the headliner.)

For more on UFC 205, check out the UFC Events section of the site.