According to
UFC CEO Dana White, Conor
McGregor’s return will set an all-time gate record for the Las
Vegas-based promotion.
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McGregor will face Michael
Chandler in the UFC 303
main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 29 as the
culmination of International Fight Week. It will be the first fight
since July 2021 for the UFC’s biggest star, and ticket sales seem
to reflect a high level of interest in the former two-division
champion.
“It’s already way over $20 million,” White said at the UFC on ESPN
56 post-fight press conference on Saturday.
To put that figure in perspective, the UFC has never held an event
that produced a live gate of more than $20 million. However,
McGregor has been attached to several of the promotion’s largest
gates, including the previous record of $17.7 million set at UFC
205 at Madison Square Garden in New York. At that event, McGregor
defeated Eddie
Alvarez in the headliner to capture the lightweight crown.
McGregor is also responsible for the No. 2 gate at UFC 229, which
produced $17.1 million for his loss to Khabib
Nurmagomedov in October 2018. UFC 300, which took place on
April 13, brought in the third-highest gate at $16.5 millon.
Expensive tickets — which include VIP packages
exceeding $12,000 — also figure to play a significant role in the
UFC 303 gate.