The pitch arrived before the opponent, the date, or even the medical clearance. McGregor, 38, took aim at Canelo Alvarez’s pay-per-view business in a social media post hours after the Mexican retained his WBC super-middleweight title with a unanimous-decision win over Christian Mbilli in Riyadh on Saturday, as relayed by Sherdog.
“How many views did the Canelo fight get? How many in attendance? Gate? Man, I outdo ALL of these people in sales. Majorly. EVERY SINGLE ONE. With ease,” McGregor wrote.
He went further. The next fight, he said, would be his last, and he intended to promote it unlike any of the ones before. In his words, the plan is to see “what numbers I can generate” and keep outdoing his own records. He also argued that his short loss to Holloway in July had still pulled sizeable numbers despite running head-to-head with the World Cup.
From 69 seconds to a world tour
The confidence sits awkwardly next to his recent ledger. McGregor has not won in the Octagon since he stopped Donald Cerrone in 2020, and he is on a three-fight losing streak, Cageside Press notes. The last two defeats have been injury-shortened, including UFC 264 against Dustin Poirier and his return against Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on 11 July.
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UFC 329 ended after 69 seconds when McGregor landed awkwardly on an opening kick. UFC president Dana White, speaking after the bout, said the injury looked immediately serious.
“We’re assuming [he sustained a] blown ACL. I’m no doctor, but that’s what I figured when I saw it,” White told reporters, as cited by Cageside Press.
Scans later confirmed a torn ACL and meniscus in the right knee. McGregor underwent surgery and has said he is targeting International Fight Week 2027 for his comeback, according to Yahoo Sports, which would mean roughly a year on from the Holloway injury.
The Canelo comparison
The specific comparison with Alvarez is the part that invites the most scrutiny. Canelo-Mbilli ran on DAZN pay-per-view at $79.99 in the United States, and neither DAZN nor Matchroom have published final buy numbers for the event. McGregor’s own benchmark, the UFC pay-per-view record, dates to his 2018 lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, as Yahoo Sports noted in reporting his return plans.
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Whether a 39-year-old McGregor returning from reconstructive knee surgery, with one win in nine years, can still move those numbers is a different question. His promotional pull remains real, and the UFC has every reason to let him test it on his way out. But the gap between a social-media promise and a signed main event is the gap he has not closed since 2021.
What is actually confirmed
McGregor has one fight left on his UFC deal, and that fight has no opponent, no venue and no official date. His target of International Fight Week 2027, held each July in Las Vegas, has not been confirmed by the UFC.
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