UFC President Dana White claimed in a conversation posted on Instagram that the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight on Saturday night did 6.5 million pay-per-view buys.
White just gave the number in a conversation that would have been taped Tuesday night with Urijah Faber and Snoop Dogg. Faber and Snoop Dogg were with White as they are one of the announce teams on Fight Pass for the Dana White's Tuesday Night Contenders series airs weekly from the UFC's gym in Las Vegas.
If that number is anywhere close to accurate, it would be a worldwide total and not a North American total.
No official announcement of the numbers has been made to date, but early indications from those in the pay-per-view industry, and others close to the promotion, were that the fight would have beaten the Manny Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight from 2015 in Canada, the U.K. and Ireland on traditional pay-per-view, but not necessarily in the U.S.
It was also expected to be the most successful streaming pay-per-view event of all-time, even with the issues UFC.tv had the night of the show and refunds they have agreed to offer.
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao holds the all-time North American record with 4.6 million total buys. It is believed to have done closer to 5.5 million buys worldwide when international figures are added in.
A key is the North American number because those buys were priced at $99.95 in most places, while in other parts of the world, such as Ireland ($32) and the U.K. ($25), the price was significantly lower, so the real key to how much revenue the event grosses is the North American number, which would be expected to be released either late this week or sometime next week.
The pay for McGregor and Mayweather is determined by revenue generated from all sources.
Even though the usual split for pay-per-view is about 50 percent to the promoter and 50 percent to the cable company or satellite company, industry sources said this show was going to be closer to 70 percent of the North American revenue going to the promoters, and from that figure, the fighters would get their percentage.
In Mexico, the event aired on two different free major television networks, Televisa and TV-Azteca, and had more than 24 million viewers.