We all knew that UFC 189 was going to be big. Forget about Ireland's own interest in the card, but the polarising nature of Conor McGregor simply forces people to turn out and watch.
Add to that the fact that it was in the middle of International Fight Week, and it was obvious the Pay-Per-View figures would rocket through the roof. Well today we found out that not only had the event attracted a record 16,019 fans into the MGM grand, tallying a $7.2 million live gate, but the PPV sales went over a million.
Due to the UFC being a private company, they aren't obliged to release official figures to the public, but updated McGregors official UFC.com profile to announce that the card had broken that milestone.
The fight became one of nine cards to draw in over a million PPVs, but still fell short of the record 1.6 million buys the Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir bout drew at UFC100, which has become known as the card to judge all showcases against.
While UFC189 may have fallen below those numbers, it is important to remember the role that the increase of illegal streaming has played on the modern PPV system, as well as UK and Irish users watching the fight for free via BT Sport.
Despite this, McGregor vs Mendes is the first fight to break the million purchases mark since the 2013 Chris Weidmann vs Anderson Silva rematch, and shattered the 800,000 buys from the recent Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier bout at UFC182.
