It is official. The UFC has put on three of the four highest-grossing events at the iconic Madison Square Garden. Unsurprisingly, the highest-grossing event for the MSG ever featured Conor McGregor making history at UFC 205.

However, the second and third highest grossers were both headlined by the stone-faced light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira. MSG has been good for ‘Poatan’ who has won both his championships at the New York landmark, including his latest fight at UFC 295 card on November 11.

UFC 295 falls just short of Conor McGregor-led UFC 205

UFC CEO Dana White has talked about ‘corruption’ being the main reason MMA was banned in New York until 2016, the year the UFC put on its first event at the iconic Madison Square Garden. And the promotion undoubtedly chose the perfect headliner to do so.

Conor McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez to become the first simultaneous two-weight division of the UFC at UFC 205 in 2016 at the MSG. This event made more money ($17.7 million) at the gate for the MSG than literally any other event at the venue ever. And in an indication of how much the popularity of the UFC has increased, the second highest was the just concluded UFC 295 at $12.4 million. This certainly comes as a surprise for many.

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While Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka are two of the biggest names in the sport, they are not in the same league as a Conor McGregor. Interestingly, UFC 281, featuring a much-awaited MMA clash between ‘Poatan’ and then middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is the third highest-grossing MSG event with $11.6 million collected at the gate.

UFC 295’s performance comes despite it not featuring the biggest names in the promotion. This makes one wonder whether it could have broken the UFC 205 record had the card been headlined by Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, as was originally scheduled. Certainly, no UFC fan worth their salt would have missed the legacy battle of the GOATs that Jones described as the most important fight of his career. And fans may have to wait for a long time before they can witness the two titans clash.

Coming back to the new 205 lbs champ, the recently concluded PPV falling short of the top spot may not be a big blow to him. This whole build-up has been Pereira one-upping the promotion’s biggest star Conor McGregor on more than one level. Let us take a look at that front.

Has Alex Pereira touched Conor McGregor’s level of popularity?

When Pereira vs. Prochazka was bumped up to the main event, it made Alex Pereira the first UFC star to headline MSG twice. He beat the likes of McGregor and Adesanya to the spot. While McGregor will always be the first to headline the venue, Pereira’s accomplishment deserves its own credit.

Further, he has two of the top three highest MSG gates to his name. Another shade of the Irishman’s popularity is how he has been able to sell PPVs and Pereira may have just emulated something similar with UFC 295. Of course, it would be too big a stretch to claim ‘Poatan’ is at McGregor’s level of popularity but the Brazilian has certainly made a dent in the picture.

Also Read: Jon Jones Finally Gets Toppled Off Top Spot by Islam Makhachev on UFC’s Latest P4P Rankings

Both strike-heavy martial artists have exciting fighting styles, but their personas are polar opposites. McGregor is a loudmouth trash-talker while Pereira is as stone-faced, stoic, and silent as can be.

What do you think? Should the UFC push Pereira as they did McGregor? What are your thoughts on the Brazilian’s latest accomplishments? Let us know in the comments.

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