UFC 229 Pay-Per-View Buys Made Way Over $110 Million, Dana White Reveals

UFC 229 headlined by Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov was billed as the biggest event in the Las Vegas promotion's history and it certainly lived up to that billing.

According to UFC president Dana White, while Saturday night's event did not crack the 3 million pay-per-view buys he projected, it did "way over" 2 million buys as per the numbers he's received so far.

With the Standard Definition price being $54.99, that means UFC 229 made over $110 million from the pay-per-view alone, at the least.

"I'm a little giddy this morning, the pay-per-view numbers are starting to roll in so I'm in a much better mood than I was on Saturday," White told TMZ. "We didn’t do 3 million. But it’s so hard to crack 2 million. Even [Mike] Tyson vs. [Evander] Holyfield was at like 1.995 [million]. Things like that didn’t crack 2 million. We’re way over 2 million, so I’m happy."

While the official figures usually tend to arrive at least a week after an event, if White's estimations are correct, then UFC 229 was certainly the biggest non-boxing event in history.

The previous record for most pay-per-view buys was at UFC 202 headlined by McGregor and Nate Diaz's rematch which cracked 1.6 million in 2016.

Add in the fact that the gate for this event was the second-biggest at $17.2 million behind UFC 205's $17.7 million, it's clear this was probably the UFC's most lucrative event. The timing is also good, given that UFC 228 the previous month only had an estimated 130,000 pay-per-view buys.

As for White being in a better mood, it's a reference to the post-fight brawl. After Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor in the fourth round to retain his title, he incited a brawl between the two teams by attacking the Irishman's teammate Dillon Danis in the crowd, which ultimately put a damper on what was an otherwise extremely successful night.

Nurmagomedov is at risk of facing serious punishment from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and is yet to receive his $2 million base purse.

"They took his whole purse right now and they’re talking about keeping his purse — I do not think that that should happen," White added. "You should not be able to keep his whole purse. I think they should take ($250,000) from him. (He) absolutely keeps his title. And he’s going to get suspended, so maybe you give him a four to six month suspension."

The suspension, though, could be longer depending on what Nevada deems worthy, and if that is the case, it will put more uncertainty in the lightweight division just after Nurmagomedov defeated the lineal champion in McGregor.

Tony Ferguson, who enjoyed an impressive win in the co-main event, has called for a title fight next and laughed off suggestions that a rematch between the two fighters may take place, especially with McGregor calling for one.

However, given the financial success of UFC 229 and McGregor being a cash cow, the UFC may book a rematch if things go well for Nurmagomedov. For now, White will wait to see how things play out.

"I don't know, we have to see how this stuff plays out with Khabib and what's next. Tony Ferguson looked amazing that night, that fight was incredible so we'll see what happens," White added.