UFC 205 by the numbers: Conor McGregor’s historic win at Madison Square Garden smashes records galore

CONOR McGregor smashed another raft of records when he dethroned Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden at UFC 205.

The November 12 event in New York City was billed as the biggest UFC event ever staged.

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And the official numbers released by the promotion certainly back up that claim.

The one stat we don’t have official clarification for is the main number we look for after events – the pay-per-view buys number.

That record is currently held by McGregor and UFC 202 at 1.65million and, although the UFC doesn’t release official pay-per-view figures, the promotion didn’t go as far as saying UFC 205 had topped that figure.

Per Haljestam

Instead they simply said that UFC 205 was “one of the most-viewed pay-per-view events in UFC history”.

Gate receipts totalling $17.7million set new records for both the UFC and Madison Square Garden, while the attendance of 20,427 set a new spectator record for a US-based show.

The weigh-ins also set a new attendance record, with a whopping 15,480 packing Madison Square Garden for the ceremonial weigh-ins, smashing the previous record of 11,500 for the UFC 189 weigh-ins featuring McGregor and Chad Mendes at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last year.

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The UFC’s US broadcast partners FOX experienced a record-breaking night, too.

The televised prelims, shown on Fox Sports 1, were the most watched UFC pay-per-view prelims in FS1 history for both the male 18-49 and people 18-49 demographics.

And with 2.4 millions viewers, the UFC’s ‘Fighting for History’ documentary was the most-watched preview show in UFC history.

The event popped on social media, too, generating a staggering 14BILLION impressions – also a UFC record.

And the UFC experienced record-breaking merchandise and retail numbers, with the event delivering the “highest US event retail performance in UFC history”.

UK TV figures were not yet available at time of publishing.