Conor McGregor watched Canelo Alvarez reclaim the WBC super middleweight title in Riyadh and came away thinking about the box office, not the boxing. On Sunday, the former two-division UFC champion posted on X that he outsells everyone in combat sports, and promised that his next fight, which he called his last, will be the first one he genuinely tries to sell.
“How many views did the canelo fight get? How many in attendance? Gate ?” McGregor wrote. “Man I outdo ALL of these people in sales. Majorly. EVERY SINGLE ONE. With ease. Maybe even combined. I don’t even be trying.”
Alvarez beat Christian Mbilli by unanimous decision on Saturday’s DAZN pay-per-view, handing Mbilli the first loss of his pro career. No attendance, gate or buy figures for the Riyadh card had been released when McGregor posted.
McGregor’s UFC 329 Numbers, And The Detail He Got Wrong
McGregor pointed to his own comeback as proof. “I was on the same time as the World Cup semi final and still done all them numbers in that last bulls*** that I’ve to sit with for another few months before I return,” he wrote. “I’m going to actually try to sell the fight for my next one. My final fight. See what numbers I can generate. Keep outdoing my own records.”
The numbers from that night hold up. Paramount+ said UFC 329 reached 15.9 million viewers across the U.S. and Latin America and peaked at 8.3 million concurrent streams, the most for any exclusive live event on the service. Dana White called the roughly $25 million gate the biggest in UFC history, topping the $21.8 million UFC 306 drew at Sphere.
The World Cup clash was real, but it wasn’t a semifinal. UFC 329 ran on July 11, the last day of the quarterfinals, with Argentina vs. Switzerland kicking off at 9 p.m. ET, the same slot UFC listed for the card. The semifinals didn’t arrive until July 14 and 15.
“Maybe even combined” is a tougher sell. Alvarez’s last megafight, his September 2025 loss to Terence Crawford, drew more than 41 million global viewers on Netflix and packed 70,482 fans into Allegiant Stadium for a gate north of $47 million, according to Netflix. Those were global figures while Paramount’s UFC 329 count covered only two regions, so it isn’t a clean comparison. On the gate, though, Canelo’s biggest night still sits well clear of McGregor’s.
What’s Next For McGregor
The fight McGregor is talking about is the last one on his UFC contract. He tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee 69 seconds into UFC 329, with Max Holloway awarded the TKO, and Dana White later confirmed the extent of the damage. McGregor had surgery in early August and has been rehabbing toward a return since.
He has targeted International Fight Week 2027 and wants a third fight with Holloway, who called for the rubber match in the Octagon after their rematch. No bout has been announced.
