Mayweather vs. McGregor
UFC fight shatters records
September 5, 2017
On Saturday August 26th, millions tuned in to watch professional boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather stand victorious over the UFC’s Connor McGregor, and bring his professional fight record 50 wins, no losses with 27 knockouts. This broke a previous record held by arguably the greatest boxer ever Rocky Marciano.
That wasn’t the only record broken that night, according to the owner of the UFC, Dana White, the exact number of viewers was 6.5 million people who payed $99 to watch. While this is an unofficial number, it could be true. All signs point to this fight breaking the previous record of 4.6 million viewers, also set by a previous Mayweather fight. The fight also brought in a record-breaking number of illegal views. According to online security firm Irdeto, there were 239 streaming services providing nearly 3 million interested parties pirated viewership. Another record that was close to being broken was the amount of views the fight prelim show had while airing on FOX. Bringing in double the usual level of viewers, averaging 2,438,000 on the main channel, and another 130,000 between Fox Deportes and the Fox Sports Go streaming platform.
There was nothing out of the ordinary for the odds that were placed on the outcome of the fight by OddsShark, one of the largest online sports and entertainment betting resources. The Mayweather line was -400 and McGregor was placed at +300. For those not familiar with odds and betting, this means that a $100 bet on McGregor would make $300, and a $400 bet placed on Mayweather would win $100.
What was out of the ordinary for an event like this was that the arena wasn’t sold out. The T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas is capable of seating 20,000 but was only able to sell 14,623 tickets with prices that began at $2,500. More viewers opted to stay home for this fight.
The fight went as most sports analysts predicted it would, with Mayweather victorious over the debut of an amateur boxer but professional fighter, Connor McGregor. Surprising to analysts, though, was McGregor’s ability to win the first three rounds unanimously. Round four was when McGregor started to tire and the 40-year-old Mayweather decided to show the stamina he developed over his 21-year career.
Still, McGregor enjoyed having a punches landed advantage of 51-40 for the first five rounds. Mayweather landed double McGregor’s punches in the sixth round until the fight stoppage at 1:05 into the tenth round. That round proved to be one of Mayweather’s strongest, landing 20 of 26 power punches before the stoppage.
Like every largely hyped professional fight that is stopped by a referee, there was controversy over the fight’s outcome. Some argue that McGregor was still coherent and landing punches, while others argue that he was staggered and confused by Mayweather’s last punch thrown before the stoppage. Either way, the world hasn’t seen the last of Connor McGregor, but it may be the last it sees of Mayweather with his retirement after the fight.
A confidentiality agreement has kept the exact split of the take in earnings from the fight but its estimated that Mayweather took home nearly 300 million dollars. Both fighters were guaranteed a minimum amount, with Mayweather at 100 million dollars and McGregor taking home a respectable 30 million dollars.