The UFC may have finally found the blockbuster it desperately needed. Just days after Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited UFC return was confirmed, early presale ticket prices for UFC 329 skyrocketed ahead of the public sale.

The Irish superstar will return to face Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 at International Fight Week in Las Vegas. And based on the first wave of presale numbers released for UFC Fight Club members, the promotion is already treating the event as the UFC’s version of the Super Bowl.

According to Tickets Help on X, the highest listed price for front-row seats currently sits at an eye-watering $43,050. Even the “cheaper” options remain extremely pricey, with the lowest-priced floor seats listed at $4,110.15, lower bowl seats starting at $1,226.73, and upper-level tickets still costing more than $622.

However, the numbers aren’t all that surprising once Conor McGregor’s name gets attached to a card. For more than a decade, practically every event featuring ‘The Notorious’ has been one of the UFC’s most profitable, regardless of the matchup.

UFC 329 is also the first time in 11 years that a McGregor bout would headline International Fight Week, instantly turning the entire week in Las Vegas into a big draw for fight fans.

The timing is also critical for the UFC financially, since the company has recently witnessed a significant decline in live gate revenue compared to past years. UFC 328 had a reported gate of $7.5 million, whereas UFC 327 failed in Miami, bringing in only $6.5 million.

Even UFC 326, which performed better, still finished around the $8.3 million mark. In comparison, both UFC 324 and UFC 325 broke the $10 million gate barrier, and UFC management will be hoping Conor McGregor’s return propels UFC 329 back into that region. The early signs certainly suggest it could happen.

Public ticket sales have not yet begun; thus, these prices solely reflect the initial Fight Club presale market. When general access becomes available through AXS later this week, it will be interesting to see whether prices settle down a little or spike even further as demand explodes.

In any case, UFC 329 already feels like much more than a numbered pay-per-view. With the Irishman’s return, International Fight Week, and Las Vegas turning to full fight-week chaos, the UFC may finally have the mega-event it has been chasing for years.

And there were little doubts about it. After all, it is the ‘Mystic Mac’ we are talking about. Are we? Well, not anymore since ‘The Notorious’ revealed he is retiring the ‘Mystic Mac’ persona ahead of his UFC 329 return.

Conor McGregor is leaving his iconic character behind

Conor McGregor heading into UFC 329 already feels different than any version fans have seen before. While the Irishman built his career on extreme confidence, prediction videos, and the legendary ‘Mystic Mac’ character, he now insists that version of himself is completely gone ahead of his rematch against Max Holloway.

For years, ‘The Notorious’ became famous not only for winning fights but also for accurately predicting how he would win them. One of the most memorable moments came before his 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo, when he said pre-fight that he was going to knock out the then-featherweight champion with the exact punch that he did.

But, according to the former double champion, the brutal leg injury he suffered against Dustin Poirier in 2021 has completely changed the way he approaches fighting now.

“I built my career on prediction,” McGregor told former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill during an intense sit-down conversation between the two about Conor McGregor’s Mac Energy brand. “I told these fighters I was facing, what I was gonna do, how, and when I was going to do it. The perfect scenario.

“And then as I went on, and only that, and I would obsessively visualize the perfect scenario, and 99% of the time it happened. And then that 1% it didn’t happen.”

Instead of only preparing for winning moments, Conor McGregor claims he now mentally prepares for the absolute worst situations possible inside the cage.

“So now, as I have become a lot more experienced in the game, I actually work backwards towards the perfect scenario,” he continued. “I had a limb break in the Octagon, so now I must have an answer to that.

“I have a whole selection of responses to the worst-case scenarios.”

That shift says a lot about where the 37-year-old currently is mentally ahead of what may be the biggest comeback fight in UFC history. This no longer sounds like the reckless, overconfident ‘Mystic Mac’ that fans have grown used to over the years. The Irishman now sounds more like a seasoned fighter who knows how quickly things can fall apart inside a cage.

And, as he enters the Max Holloway rematch as arguably the biggest betting underdog in his combat sports career, that new approach may prove to be just as significant as anything he does physically inside the Octagon.