ABU DHABI – UFC president Dana White believes UFC 254 could be one of the biggest events in the promotion’s history and says he’s got the data to prove it.
While he revealed his expectations for Saturday’s pay-per-view event earlier this week, White has heard the doubters who simply can’t believe that Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC) vs. Justin Gaethje (22-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) might wind up being one of the biggest fights ever. After Wednesday’s pre-fight news conference on Yas Beach, White seemed shocked that some are doubting his claim – especially considering what a global superstar Nurmagomedov has become in recent years.
“Apparently, people around the sport don’t realize what a superstar this kid is,” White told a small group of reporters, including MMA Junkie. “This thing is trending off the charts – on Monday. On Monday, it’s trending off the charts to be the biggest fight in UFC history. It’s trending on Tuesday to be the biggest fight in UFC history. Then today, we’ll get another update today.”
According to the UFC’s social media stats, Nurmagomedov is one of the top-three followed accounts across all networks, including an astounding 21.9 million followers on Instagram, 2.8 million on Facebook, and another 1.1 million on Twitter.
When discussing the UFC’s own social accounts, Nurmagomedov videos have generated more than 222 million views on Facebook, which officials say includes four of the top seven videos in company history. More than 100 million of those views came in 2020 alone.
Just three days ahead of UFC 254, which airs on pay-per-view from Flash Forum on Yas Island, UFC officials said they have tracked media coverage for the card in more than 50 countries totaling more than 23 billion impressions.
“So how does a fight trend that big?” White asked. “When you look at these type of numbers and what’s going on, that’s how.”
But could it potentially be among the biggest fights in UFC history? After all, while the privately held promotion doesn’t publicize its pay-per-view numbers, UFC 229 – which took place in October 2018 and featured Nurmagomedov vs. fellow global superstar Conor McGregor – reportedly earned 2.4 million buys.
Different at UFC 254, the card is taking place overseas, which typically results in a negative impact in pay-per-view sales in the all-important U.S. market, especially when it takes place at a unique time – like this weekend’s 2 p.m. ET start.
Additionally, the pay-per-view is now available exclusively through the online platform ESPN+ rather than the myriad of providers that used to distribute the content during the pre-ESPN days.
White said that’s no longer the challenge it once was when the promotion first switched to ESPN+ pay-per-view in January 2019.
“People know how to stream, especially during the pandemic,” White said. “If you didn’t know how to f*cking stream, you learned how to f*cking stream. I mean, that’s all people are doing.”
Need more proof of Nuramgomedov’s global appeal?
According to White, the UFC lightweight champion is the most played athlete in the promotion’s video game, EA UFC 4. His fighter page on UFC.com is the most viewed athlete page on the site over the past two years. His UFC 242 bout with Dustin Poirier in September 2019 generated the largest social media traffic of any event for the year.
Today’s faceoff on Yas Beach did more than 1 million views within 30 minutes of being posted to Instagram, he said.
It’s an inexact science, but one White believes means big numbers could follow.
“Do I think it’s going to do over 2 million?” White asked. “I have no idea. But I can tell you this: The data is telling us it will.”