While the Conor McGregor/UFC 200 situation continues to roll on in a confusing manner, a couple of stats point firmly in the direction of a Conor McGregor led card come July in Vegas. Obviously if money talks, that is...
MMA Junkie broke down the gates of the last 4 events
“UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz” – 14,898 ($8,100,000 live gate)
“UFC 197: Jones vs. Saint Preux” – 11,352 ($2,300,000 live gate)
“UFC 195: Lawler vs. Condit” – 10,300 ($2,003,986 live gate)
“UFC Fight Night 82: Hendricks vs. Thompson” – 7,422 ($1,435,000 live gate)
Jon Jones was returning from a 15 month absence, and while it was a replacement opponent in OSP, it was still the return of the pound for pound king. While he won the fight, it was subpar for him - lessening the impact of the impending title fight with Daniel Cormier - touted as a replacement headliner.
And then ESPN broke down how much Dana White and co could expect to lose from a McGregor-less card. And it's insane money.
ESPN's Darren Rovell reckons it'd be around $45 million. That's a lot of money for what essentially appears to be a power play. The breakdown is absolute worth reading in full.
SBG Head Coach John Kavanagh appeared on the MMA Hour today and was still hopeful Conor could make the card. Well, "51% optimistic." Frankly, we'll take that.
We have no idea how this will play out, but we're hoping however it does, that it's soon. This is getting silly.
