The long-term blow to Conor McGregor’s popularity after his defeat at UFC 257 to Dustin Poirier will not be known for the time being. But according to social media statistics released after the pay-per-view event last Saturday, he remains – and will continue to be – a big star.
Qualifying firm Nielsen Sports recently reported on several metrics generated by the lightweight fight, which ended in a second round knockout loss to McGregor. Much of the buzz generated by this setback weighed on the former star of the two divisions, who attracted almost 10 times the number of engagements (22.7 million) as Poirier (2.3 million) on their social media profiles in preparation for the fight.
McGregor also outperformed Poirier by a factor of 1.7, receiving 76,000 during the fight week and 49,000 during the event.
“The online conversation focused on the fact that McGregor lost, not that Poirier won,” wrote Spencer Nolan of Nielsen Sports in a press release. “This tells us that, to win or lose, he remains a fundamental character who has transcended an entire sport.”
Evidence of McGregor’s box office popularity can be seen in the UFC 257 pay-per-view numbers. Although the promotion of the fight does not publicly release buyrates and they are impossible to verify independently, the event was purchased for 1.6 million customers at a price of $ 69.99 for $ 111,984,000 in revenue. The UFC uses social media metrics to assess potential profits, and with 43 million engagements and almost 100,000 mentions in the week of the fight, it was clear that the promotion had a hit on its hands.
While UFC 257 suffered huge online disruptions, generating partial refunds, the event was indeed a resounding success, eclipsed only by McGregor’s blockbuster confrontation with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, which reportedly yielded 2.4 million purchases.
The interest in a rematch between McGregor and Nurmagomedov served as a footnote to last Saturday’s fight. According to Nielsen, there were 12,000 discussions in a three-day period in which the names of both fighters were removed. McGregor has 56 million followers on social media versus 31 million Nurmagomedov.
One metric in which Poirier managed to beat McGregor was the social media followers added in the week of the fight, catching 520,000 against McGregor’s 439,000.
And undoubtedly the most important metric – the result of the fight – Poirier was the big winner, hitting a flurry of punches to send McGregor to the screen.