Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey: Who Was UFC’s Biggest Star? Analyzing and Comparing 5 Key Metrics to Find a Result

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) came as a shot in the arm for MMA fans and fighters alike. The promotion has been graced by many greats, who have established a symbiotic relationship. Perhaps two of the greatest ambassadors of the company are Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. In a way, they have had a similar career trajectory- both came, saw and conquered. They also experienced heartbreaking losses in their respective careers. With similarities galore, comparisons are bound to arise. While it would be unfair to compare their whole careers, with Rousey having her last fight in the UFC in 2016, we can compare their run till that time.

Meanwhile, UFC big boss Dana White had his pick already. In 2016, while announcing Rousey’s fight with Amanda Nunes, White kept Rousey ahead of everyone else. “By far. Not even close, by far the biggest star ever,” he had said. Notwithstanding the comment, this article will base the comparisons on five factors and use numbers to determine the ultimate winner.

Who aced the pay-per-view buys?

Rousey and McGregor made their UFC debuts just three months apart. By virtue of signing early, in November 2012, Rousey is the senior peer. McGregor inked his deal with the promotion in February 2013. When it came to pay-per-views, who do you think emerged as the champion?

But before delving into the figures, let’s keep in mind that we’ll be looking into the last three pay-per-views, till November 8, 2016, for this story. While both the fighters have been a part of other matches as well, information about all of them isn’t available. This is because of UFC’s structure as a privately held company.

However, there have been instances where the numbers have been revealed, either through White or media reports. Here are three PPV matches for each.

In UFC 184, Rousey took on Cat Zingano, winning the main event by submission in round one. The February 28, 2015 event at Staples Center raked in 600,000 buys.

Next, Bethe Correia fell victim to a knockout in round one on August 1, 2015, at the HSBC Arena. The UFC 190 fight bettered the previous record with 900,000 buys.

The last fight we’ll look at is UFC 193, where Holly Holm humbled the ‘Baddest Woman on the Planet’. The bout had 1.1 million buys. Rowdy Ronda was knocked out in round 2 as the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia went into shock on 14 November 2015.

Similarly, McGregor’s first bout would be UFC 194, where he knocked out Jose Aldo in round one. The fight did more than Rousey’s best collection with 1.2 million buys.

Nate Diaz claimed a victory over McGregor via submission at UFC 196, on March 5, 2016, at MGM Grand Garden Arena. While he lost, The Notorious helped UFC with 1.6 million buys.

His match at UFC 202 with the same opponent, Diaz, broke the then record with 1.65 million buys. This time, it was McGregor who had the last laugh.

Who took the crown of social media influencer?

While McGregor won the PPV contest hands down, Rousey got one back with social media numbers. McGregor’s numbers were rather underwhelming in comparison.

Ronda Rousey had 11.1 million followers on Facebook, compared to the Irish fighter’s 4.3 million.

Rousey had the higher number on Twitter, now X, as well, with 3.2 million followers. McGregor had 2.68 million followers on the social media site.

On Instagram, Rousey had a lead of 1.2 million followers over her male counterpart. She boasted 8.6 million in comparison to the 35-year-old’s 7.4 million followers.

Who had more social media impact?

For this, we’ll take a look at Rousey’s matches with Bethe Correia and Holly Holm. McGregor’s matches will be the ones with Aldo and the first bout with Diaz. You might wonder why? It is because Diaz and McGregor 2 fell into a different type of rating system. So keep parity, we’ll be using the above fights.

Rousey vs. Correia received 934,000 total engagements on Twitter/X. Her personal handle was mentioned 283,000 times. Her match with Holm had 927,000 total engagements on the social media site. The profile was mentioned 115,000 times.

McGregor and Aldo’s bout received 603,000 total engagements. The Featherweight Champion’s personal handle was mentioned 75,000 times.

At UFC 196, the fight had 844,000 total engagements and 66,000 mentions for McGregor’s handle. So, Rousey emerged as the bigger needle mover here.

Who controlled the live gates?

In sporting terms, live gate is the total money earned for attendance. In this case, since figures for Correia Vs Rousey weren’t available, we’ll use her bout against Sara McMann from UFC 170.

The numbers are revealed by the promotion itself. Rousey vs. McMann was attended by 10,217 people at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas. The event generated $1.558 million.

The UFC 184 event raked in $2.675 million. It was attended by 16,577 people at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Rousey vs. Holm was the former’s best of the lot. A total of 56,214 people throng the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, generating $6.8 million.

In comparison, Conor McGregor’s lowest collection is nearly a million more than of Rousey’s best. The rematch between Diaz and McGregor was watched live at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas by 15,539 people. It made the UFC $7.692 million.

The second best was these two fighters’ first bout, which was witnessed by 14,898 people at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The gate was $8.1 million.

In the same venue, McGregor and Aldo made UFC $10.1 million. A total of 16,516 people were in attendance.

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This was clearly won by McGregor, making it a 2-2 affair so far.

Salaries

For this, we had to bank on several reports that were available in the public domain. And based on that, these are the findings. While Rousey’s purse is $14 million, McGregor emerged as the winner of this parameter with $22 million. With it, McGregor also wins the five-round contest 3-2.

Even with Dana White declaring Ronda Rousey ahead of others by far, numbers have disagreed with the UFC boss. But it’s understandable why White chose her over others. Rousey came in at a time when the UFC had no women fighters. She pioneered not only the division but also laid the blueprint for its success later on.

While Rousey is no more active in the promotion, she will always be regarded as one of the greats of the company. Interestingly, her time in the WWE is also coming to an end shortly. Before going out, however, Rousey will add a touch of MMA when she takes on one of her former UFC peers- Shayna Baszler– at SummerSlam on August 5.

Who do you think was the bigger star out of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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