Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor Box Office Projections on Record-Breaking Pace

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

The Aug. 26 showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor is on track to do record-breaking business.

UFC president Dana White addressed the expected financial implications of the Mayweather-McGregor spectacle during a Wednesday conference call.

"This is the biggest event that has ever happened in combat sports," White said. "This fight will reach over a billion homes worldwide."

Rovell noted White said the fight currently has an over/under of 4.9 million total buys on pay-per-view.

"Everything is tracking right now like we're going to kill this thing," said White.

There has been some hand-wringing about the number of tickets sold for the fight. Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times reported Aug. 7 there were still 3,000 seats available at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told reporters Aug. 10 that Mayweather vs. McGregor has already generated "over $60 million in the box office."

Mark Shapiro, co-president of the WME/IMG agency that owns UFC, said Wednesday it would be "impossible for us to not break the record" of a $72.2 million gate set by the 2015 match between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, per Darren Rovell of ESPN.com.

McGregor is the biggest box-office draw in the UFC. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao sold 4.4 million buys on pay-per-view in addition to its record-setting gate.

The combination of McGregor and Mayweather looks to be big enough that the fight will establish all sorts of new box-office records.