Dana White claims UFC 251 is “trending higher than a Conor McGregor fight”

UFC President Dana White claims Saturday’s UFC 251 card is trending to be a massive success—perhaps an even bigger blockbuster than a Conor McGregor fight.

UFC 251 will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between dominating champion Kamaru Usman and streaking challenger Jorge Masvidal. Usman was originally expected to defend his title agains Gilbert Burns, but Masvidal was called to step in on just six days’ notice when Burns tested positive for COVID-19. The card will also feature two other title fights: a featherweight showdown between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, and a bantamweight battle between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.

White says this triple-header is generating so much buzz that it compares to McGregor’s 2018 fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which went down as the most successful pay-per-view in UFC history.

The UFC boss made this bold claim during a Friday scrum in on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, where the card will occur.

Dana White says #UFC251 “is trending higher than a @TheNotoriousMMA fight” and “as big as a fight as I’ve ever seen in my entire career.” 😲

Full interview: https://t.co/Jhys9n0vfF pic.twitter.com/VY6UMVJkas

— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) July 10, 2020

“This is one of the most successful events we’ve ever done, if you look at the numbers and what’s going on,” White said.

“I was just telling those guys—I just left the fighter meeting—this thing is trending off the charts. This thing is trending higher than a Conor McGregor fight,” White added. “The only thing thing this fight is comparable to is Conor-Khabib. Let me give it to you this way, I’ll give you an interesting stat: our UFC store, we’ve sold more merchandise already, now, than we did in all of 2019. We already beat 2019. This thing is trending as big of a fight as I’ve ever seen in my entire career.”

Whether the metrics White is consulting will actually translate into a successful pay-per-view remains to be seen, but UFC 251 is absolutely generating tons of buzz.

White claims “there were a ton of things that made this fight big,” but Masvidal has a different theory.

“You know why?” Masvidal said during his own Friday scrum. “‘Cause I’m on the motherfu*kin’ card.”

What do you think of this bold claim from Dana White?