CONOR McGREGOR HAS made a bold prediction for his UFC featherweight title bout against defending champion Jose Aldo.
The Dubliner believes that the pay-per-view numbers for UFC 189, which is set to take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 11 July, will compete with the highly-anticipated boxing showdown of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in the same venue on 2 May.
Speaking to reporters in Vegas yesterday about his fight against Aldo, McGregor said: “I think this is going to smash pay-per-view records. I think I’m going to compete with Mayweather/Pacquiao. That’s what I think.”
The Mayweather/Pacquiao bout is expected to exceed the current boxing record of 2.4 million pay-per-view buys — for Mayweather versus Oscar de la Hoya in 2007 — while the UFC record of 1.6 million was set by Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir in 2009.
McGregor and Aldo are continuing their media tour today to promote UFC 189, with the featherweight rivals moving from Las Vegas to Los Angeles for their next round of promotional duties.
The UFC are producing a series of their ‘Embedded’ programmes throughout the tour, and the newest episode features the pair arriving in Vegas to meet the press.
McGregor: “Whoever said it’s tough at the top was talking absolute shit.”
