Conor McGregor's shock loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 'has third most PPV buys in history' as top 10 revealed

CONOR MCGREGOR'S shock loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 sold a reported 1.6 million pay-per-view buys.

The former two-division champion, 32, suffered a devastating second-round KO loss to the Diamond on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

The bout marked McGregor’s comeback to the octagon after seeing off Donald Cerrone back in January 2020.

Yet the Notorious – who was also making his UAE debut – now has further proof that despite his recent record, he remains the sport's biggest draw.

Sports Business Journal claim that that UFC 257 clocked 1.6 million buys – 1.2m in the United States and 400,000 internationally.

That makes McGregor's latest MMA return one of his most profitable for the company yet as their third most successful PPV ever.

Dana White has also raked in better numbers already in 2021 than he did for any event that was held by his promotion last year.

But his hopes of generating a record-setting 3m buys for a potential rematch between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov look to have been dashed following the Irishman's defeat at the weekend.

The bitter rivals smashed the UFC's box office record in their 2018 fight, which sold 2.4m PPVs.

However, McGregor does have the unique claim of featuring in every fight occupying a top three slot with his rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202 shifting 1.65m buys.

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His 2021 clash against Poirier is now tied at No.3 with Brock Lesnar's win over Frank Mir at UFC 100.

McGregor meanwhile may have to wait until July to have the chance to crack the top ten again after his medical suspension was announced.

Meanwhile, Poirier has received the standard seven days mandatory rest.

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