UFC 246: Dana White ‘cool’ with seeing ‘happy, sane’ Conor McGregor
- Irishman has toned down trash talk for comeback, but UFC president insists it won’t affect pay-per-view buys
- ‘All the stuff that’s been going on with Conor, people wanna see if he still has it,’ says White
Conor McGregor has cut a different figure during fight week than the one everybody is used to seeing.
No antics, no trash talking. He’s been on time (mostly) for his promotional duties – it’s all been a far cry from the heated build-up to his last fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.
But some are questioning whether the “new” Conor can drive big pay-per-view buy rates without being his usual loudmouth self.
UFC president Dana White isn’t concerned at all, though.
“All the stuff that’s gone on with Conor over the last couple of years, people wanna see if he still has it,” White told a media scrum after Friday night’s ceremonial weigh-ins at Park Theatre in Las Vegas.
“I was hoping to see a happy, sane Conor McGregor. I’m cool with that. This thing’s gonna kill it, over a million [pay-per-view buys] easily.”
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Tickets for UFC 246 sold out within five minutes, with the UFC initially pulling in a gate of US$10.2 million dollars – a figure that is still expanding.
“When we first laid this thing out, we had a potential for a US$9.5 million dollar gate,” White said. “Then it went on sale. We’re almost at US$11 million now.
“We’ve been opening up production kills. And people are buying tickets right now for standing room only, to stand in the corridor with a bunch of other people and watch the fight.”
