Michael Chandler is confident his fight against UFC star Conor McGregor later this year can sell upwards of two million pay-per-view buys.
Chandler, 36, will face former two-weight champion McGregor after the pair coach against each other on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. The filming of the UFC's reality TV show is expected to take place later this month and the show will air from May until August, with Chandler and McGregor expected to meet in the cage shortly after that.
By the time McGregor returns to the cage, over two years would have passed since he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier in their trilogy fight. The Irishman has been involved in all of the top five highest-selling events in UFC history and Chandler is confident their fight will also be a huge success on pay-per-view.
“If you look at the numbers, I think two million [buys], it’s not just a possibility, I think it’s very achievable and very attainable,” Chandler said on The MMA Hour. “It’s hard for me to toot my own horn, but I think what I’ve created is a level of intrigue and mystique that when I show up on fight night and that cage door closes, all hell breaks loose and my foot is on the gas.
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“I haven’t seen a brake pedal at all since I signed with the organisation. Honestly, since I started fighting. “It’s just continued to build and build and build. So you look at why this fight got made, Conor knows it’s going to do big numbers. Everybody is tuning in. Everybody is buying the pay-per-view for that night, that moment, that opportunity."
McGregor's loss to bitter rival Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018 currently holds the record for the highest-selling pay-per-view in UFC history at 2.4 million buys. The Irishman's trilogy fight against Poirier in July 2021 comes in at number two, selling 1.8 million buys.
Chandler is confident that his exciting fight style acompanied by McGregor's long layoff will result in a gigantic pay-per-view figure. The former Bellator champion predicts that it could even top the number set by McGregor vs Nurmagomedov, adding: "Obviously, I am a wishful thinker. I have confident expectancy for myself to show up and build this thing.
"You couple that with the opportunity to be on ESPN the network for a month and a half, two months. Every Tuesday night or whatever it’s going to be — people are going to be tuning in and the tension’s going to be palpable and the buildup to this thing, could be the biggest pay-per-view that we’ve ever seen."
