SIMON HEAD Who’s the biggest star in the UFC? Ronda Rousey or Conor McGregor?
Which of the two megastar athletes is the biggest UFC superstar? Ronda Rousey or Conor McGregor? SunSport’s MMA reporter Simon Head takes a closer look and offers his take
THE debate over the identity of the UFC’s biggest star is hotting up, with UFC president Dana White saying this week that Ronda Rousey is the undisputed No.1 star and it’s “not even close”.
That’s a statement that fans of Conor McGregor may take issue with, particularly given the Dubliner’s stratospheric, record-breaking rise to UFC superstardom in recent years.
Who’s the UFC’s No.1 star? Ronda Rousey v Conor McGregor?
Both are world championship-level competitors who have headlined some of the biggest shows in UFC history, and both have brought countless new fans to the sport. So who’s the biggest star? It’s a great debate to have over a pint with fellow MMA fans, and in truth there are strong arguments for both athletes. Just like a super-close MMA bout, it depends entirely on how you judge it.
So, in true MMA fashion, I’ve set up five rounds, featuring five key criteria, to at least attempt to find out who the biggest star in the UFC really is.
Rousey and McGregor: Fighting icons inside the Octagon, celebrity superstars outside it
ROUND 1: Crossover appeal
At the height of her championship reign Ronda was the darling of the late night talkshows in the States, and even picked up a cameo role as Turtle’s love interest in the Entourage movie.
McGregor has also done the rounds on the talk show circuit, and while he’s appeared in ads for mobile games and was recently motion-captured for the new Call of Duty game, he hasn’t hit the big screen away from the fight game. At least not yet.
They’ve both appeared, sans-clothing, on the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue, so that’s a draw, but overall Ronda’s reach has, so far at least, extended further into the mainstream than McGregor’s.
You’d have to say that right now Rousey’s appeal beyond the eight walls of the Octagon is a shade bigger than that of McGregor, so that’s Round 1 to Ronda.
Talk show darling: Ronda Rousey was a popular guest on primetime talk shows like The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon
ROUND 2: Social media presence
This ‘retirement’ tweet from McGregor earlier this year sent the MMA world – and the Twittersphere – into meltdown.
I have decided to retire young.
Thanks for the cheese.
Catch ya's later.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 19, 2016
The reaction was unlike anything we’ve ever seen online for a sports star’s tweet, and broke NBA star Kobe Bryant’s retweet record for his 2015 retirement announcement within 20 hours of being posted.
His fallout with the UFC brass over UFC 200 was played out, in part, over social media and had fans and journalists flocking to his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to check on his latest public statements.
But despite the huge buzz McGregor creates whenever he posts on social media – his recent tweet, simply saying “Beg me” attracted over 13,000 retweets and 26,000 likes – his overall social media presence is dwarfed by Rousey.
Beg me
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 21, 2016
While McGregor has a whopping 13.59 million followers across his official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, Rousey’s accounts on those three platforms total a colossal 22.79 million.
ROUND 3: Pay per view buys
That brings us to Round 3, and that’s pay-per-view buys. It’s the metric that forms the backbone of the UFC’s business success and it’s where McGregor comes roaring back in this debate.
Nobody generates pre-fight buzz quite like Conor McGregorCredit: Getty Images
Ronda is undoubtedly a superstar, but when it comes to selling pay per views, the Dubliner is the undisputed king.
Across the five UFC events she has headlined so far, Rousey has amassed a total of 3.4 million pay-per-view buys. That’s an average of 680,000 per event.
But in just four pay-per-view events to date McGregor has blitzed that number, with a huge 5.275 million buys. That’s an average of 1.31 million per event which, incredibly, would rank the average Conor McGregor event as the fourth most-watched event in UFC history.
It’s also almost double Rousey’s average.
Conor McGregor’s UFC 202 rematch with Nate Diaz reportedly beat UFC 100 to become the most-watched UFC pay-per-view event everCredit: Getty Images
So it’s therefore no surprise that two of McGregor’s four pay-per-views are in the top three most-watched UFC pay-per-view events of all time.
His two clashes with Nate Diaz at UFC 196 and UFC 202 garnered 1.6 million and 1.65 million respectively, with the latter event setting a new pay-per-view record for the UFC.
You can argue the reasons for this, but for me the biggest difference is perception. Rousey has always been the huge betting favourite going into her bouts.
Ronda Rousey celebrates after defeating Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds at UFC 184
But while Rousey always had that air of invincibility right up to UFC 193, people have been doubting McGregor from the very start.
People expected Chad Mendes to grind him into the dirt with his wrestling at UFC 189 – even coming off a two-week camp. And people thought pound-for-pound star Jose Aldo would be just too good for the Dubliner at UFC 194.
On both occasions McGregor proved the naysayers wrong, but the pay per views had already been bought by then.
His unshakeable belief and willingness to show it publicly meant people wanted to tune in to see if he was the real deal or a man whose mouth was writing cheques his skills couldn’t cash.
Conor McGregor stopped Chad Mendes at UFC 189 in July in a fight many thought he would lose
The result? Pay-per-view buys. Lots of them. Round 3 emphatically goes to Conor, and if we’re using the 10-point must system they use at Octagonside, it’s almost a 10-8, too.
ROUND 4: Fanbase
Both Rousey and McGregor have big fanbases, and when Rousey fights, it’s an occasion. It draws fans to events that wouldn’t necessarily attend a UFC event, with people there purely to watch Ronda fight.
Her ability to open up the sport to women and girls around the world has been remarkable, and her comments about body confidence and strength and independence (such as her ‘DNB’ Do Nothing B***h comments on UFC Embedded) have made her something of an icon to a generation of female fans around the world.
But if we’re talking about sheer impact on the events themselves, the sporting occasion on television and the overall atmosphere generated, there really is only one winner.
When it comes to loyal, passionate, fanatical support, Conor McGregor has the game on lockdown.
McGregor is the nearest thing we’ve seen in combat sport to Ricky Hatton in terms of a passionate fanbase that’s prepared to travel.
At UFC 189 11,500 fans packed the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas just to watch McGregor weigh in. It was unlike anything I’ve seen before covering MMA.
I remember chatting with UFC chief brand officer Garry Cook back when he first joined the UFC and he told me his aim was for fans to passionately support their local stars and fly the flag of their country on the international stage.
No fighter embodies the success of that aim like Conor McGregor.
Big draw: Conor McGregor takes to the scale in front of 11,500 fans in Las Vegas at the UFC 189 weigh-ins
It’s a close one, and it depends on whether you’re judging it within the sport or outside of it. But we’re talking the UFC’s biggest star in the realm of prizefighting, McGregor takes it.
ROUND 5: Bouncebackability
The word may have been coined by former football manager Iain Dowie, but it lends itself perfectly to the world of MMA, where even the very best fighters can suffer a defeat.
Both Rousey and McGregor have suffered damaging losses, but the way the two fighters responded to their setbacks was markedly different.
When Rousey was sent crashing to the canvas by Holly Holm’s ‘head-kick heard around the world’, the haters were out in force, Rousey’s aura of invincibility was shattered, and it appeared to have a profound effect on her.
The devastating manner of the defeat, coupled with the vitriolic backlash that followed, seemed to force the previously bullish and super-confident Rousey into hiding as she all but disappeared from the public eye.
Only a brief appearance on Saturday Night Live broke Rousey’s near-silence as she removed herself from the spotlight.
Being unexpectedly knocked out can have a major effect on a fighter’s mindset, but so can the knowledge that you were forced to quit, and that’s what happened to McGregor against Diaz at UFC 196.
McGregor had to suffer the humbling experience of not just losing, but making the decision to lose by tapping out a submission, right in the middle of the Octagon.
OMG! @NateDiaz209 stops @TheNotoriousMMA! #UFC196 https://t.co/2zkb2yilsu
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) March 6, 2016
For some who watched McGregor’s rise on a tidal wave of brash press conferences and spectacular performances, they may have seen it as a humiliating way to lose. Indeed, some noted that he tapped while the Holly Holm, who also lost by submission on the same night, didn’t.
But for all his brashness and bluster when he’s in fight promotion mode, McGregor is an honest fighter, and he knew he’d lost the battle.
He fronted up at the post-fight press conference and showed that previously-unseen side to his personality, as he admitted defeat, said he’d come back and took his defeat like a true champion.
And rather than shrinking away, McGregor did the opposite. He demanded a rematch under the same less-than-favourable conditions he’d accepted for the first bout.
Then he went out and avenged his defeat after one of the greatest UFC main events in recent memory that has been described by some as the Hagler v Hearns of the UFC.
And if we’re judging in the here and now, that’s the difference for me. While one star lost and seemingly shrunk the other lost, but grew.
Both are incredible talents – elite athletes who have produced some of the most memorable moments we’ve seen in the Octagon.
But when push comes to shove, when we’re talking about the UFC it always comes down to fighting, win OR lose.
McGregor was forced to submit at UFC 196, but he bounced back admirably to claim victory in the rematchCredit: Getty Images
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh’s famous phrase (and the title of his book) is Win or Learn. And on the day the Rousey and McGregor lost, we perhaps learned who the biggest star really is.
Both fighters have plenty more to give in their respective careers, so how we compare the careers of Rousey and McGregor when they’ve hung up their gloves is another debate for another time.
We also have the mouth-watering prospect of a Rousey comeback later this year at UFC 207. It’ll be very interesting to see how her pay-per-view numbers stack up against Conor’s when she returns to the Octagon.
Megastar: Conor McGregor shades itCredit: Getty Images
Our showbiz reporters might give you a different view, but for my money right now in September 2016, I’d say Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the UFC.
