Is McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov really the biggest fight in MMA history?

[Glove]

That was a big fight for its time, but it's definitely not the biggest fight ever at this point. It wasn't even the biggest fight in PRIDE. Fedor vs Cro Cop and Hendo vs Wandy were bigger fights. There's been bigger fights in the UFC, too.

It's not 2002 anymore.

I just gave one example. To refute the OP claim.

 

[Apollo33]

Not even close. Khabib is a bit unproven imo, he got his belt by beating Iaquinta of all people, and he never fought Conor, Ferg or Porier/Eddie.

Conor literally has 1 LW win in the UFC, and is 1-1 very unimpressively against Nate Diaz

 

[smiles mma]

I feel like Tony would have made for a better fight, great ground game vs great top game

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

2 mil? You really think so? With the way buyrates have been going lately, I'm not sure it breaks 1.5 mil. How much longer will the casual, non-MMA general public have interest in McGregor? He is definitely the biggest star we've seen to date, so if anyone can do it, it's Conor.

he hasn't even started promoting yet, except for the bus incident, but that isnt fresh right now - just wait until he starts talking and people star going nuts

 

[D. Lynch]

Nothing comes close to Cro Cop/Fedor imo.
Khabib/Conor is huge, but it's 'big drama show' above all.

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

its a big fight, but on the merits of biggest fights ever, no.
this is a money fight, plain and simple.
two guys that should be fighting each other.

 

[Deleted member 519031]

Wahhhh what about big nog fedor wahhhhh

 

[PeacePipe]

As the global population increases of course PPV rates will climb. But as a sport there were much bigger fights and much better rivalrys. Tito / shamrock , BJ Penn / GSP, Silva / Weiidman, Mir/Lesnar, i think these were all bigger as they were all relevant active fighters, hell even Diaz / Mcgregor 2 had more purpose (and it was fought and "doesn't hurt my reputation weight").

Mcgregor has the world in his palm after Alvarez, hopefully he can grab it back and then we can see a true spectacle in his next one, this is not that one though...

 

[ViD]

Name a fight bigger without Conor in it.

Khabib vs GSP

 

[BadJuju]

I was already thinking about making this thread because ive seen ariel helwani say this over and over and it really doesnt sit well with me. Im not saying it isnt or it wont be and im hyped as hell for it.... but, im not sure im 100% convinced this is the biggest fight ever.

To my surprise ESPN just posted an article on it: http://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/...vs-khabib-nurmagomedov-biggest-mma-fight-ever

So what does sherdog think?

IMO this might turn out to be very dissapointing. The ratings are so low right now that even a conor comeback might not hit that #1 spot ever.

Jeffs answer is interesting, although hindsight: "Define biggest. If we're evaluating in terms of big-picture significance, the gold standard has to be Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar, right? For years, we've been fed the narrative that the Spike TV telecast of the Season 1 finale of "The Ultimate Fighter" saved the UFC from financial ruin. Would the whole circus tent collapse without this big October 6 showdown?"

Biggest MMA fight? NO
Biggest Money fight? Probably

 

[tehJameson]

Khabib vs GSP

GSP a bigger draw then Conor? Don't tink so.

And Im talking fights that have already happened.

 

[ultra321]

Is it once in human history though??
Is this really the best UFC/WME can do
Or are they just checking boxes

winner vs GSP would be bigger...

 

[podsox]

conor loves taking jabs at people and getting under their skin. I’m wondering if he dares take a shot at khabib for being Muslim. If he does, this thing could explode into something crazy big for all the wrong reasons

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

Not even close...

 

[Verace]

winner vs GSP would be bigger...

if the winner is conor...

vs khabib it wouldnt do the same

 

[MikalP]

If by "biggest", they mean most PPV buys, I think that it definitely could be IF they promote it properly. However I don't really have faith that they will...

Biggest in terms of significance? In UFC history? Nah. It's up there though.

I mean it gets to a point where they'd start investing more in marketing than they would feel is profitable just to try and push the PPV # up. Biggest PPV ever doesn't mean as much if they have to invest 10 fold into it to get to those insanely high numbers. They're a business, and some things come before trying to create more accolades for Conor lol

 

[awymore]

If a former champ with zero title defenses versus a new champ with zero title defenses is the biggest fight ever, why does the UFC even bother with titles?

 

[DarkneT]

Nah Cro cop vs Fedor

 

[somocjcsom]

The next McGregor fight is always the biggest one. No one cares for his opponents.

His 2nd Diaz fight did more than his last fight against alvarez

 

[VAfan]

unfortunately the biggest fights are almost always at the heavier weight classes.

people get super amped up for fedor / crocop, cain / JDS, jones / DC. it's the battle for the baddest man on the planet.