Chael Sonnen Reports Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 Gate Estimated at $27 Million Despite 3-Year Absence

For the UFC, the highly anticipated return of McGregor meant huge numbers in every aspect of the business. Dana White had even reported that the gate for UFC 303 had surpassed $20 million. However, Chael Sonnen in a recent video claims to have inside information about the real number having dwarfed Dana White’s claims by some margin.

Uncle Chael spilled the tea on a recent episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy. Speaking to Cormier, he praised the Irishmab’s stardom and said that despite being out for three years, changing weight classes, and not fighting for a belt, McGregor was able to put behinds on seats like no other mixed martial artist in history.

The ‘Bad Guy’ then spoke about how Dana White’s initial claim of $20 million was now in the past and that the number had significantly grown since White’s response.

“That little $23 million gate that you hear about? Its not sold out, that thing was going to come in closer to $27 million when it was done. That beats Conor’s own record. He was going to beat his own number one record by 80%…. They’re still doing record business.”

The current record for gates stands at $17.7 million. As one could guess, this also belongs to Conor McGregor and Eddie Alvarez as the two main evented UFC 205 for the UFC lightweight title.

Now, if Sonnen’s sources are right, McGregor is beating his current record by a whopping $10 million. It would be foolish to guess the UFC gate when returns from injury to fight towards the end of the year.

Conor McGregor to return before the end of this year?

At this point in time, there is no timeline, none whatsoever. McGregor has seemingly hurt the titanium shinbone leg that he had snapped during the Dustin Poirier trilogy fight 3 years ago.

However, according to reports, the injury is not that serious and the Irishman could return before the end of the year.

Michael Chandler on the other hand is still laser-focused on having his day in the sun. In a recent interview, Dana White stated that Chandler still wanted the ‘ red pan*y night’ but also claimed he would be open to giving Chandler a fight in the summer before eventually booking him against the ‘notorious’.

Dana White says Michael Chandler wants to wait for Conor McGregor:

“I think poor Chandler wants to wait for Conor McGregor man.

If he wants to get a fight this summer, we’ll do whatever he wants. He’s one of the greatest athletes I’ve ever worked with.”

@jimrome #UFC303… pic.twitter.com/g1SGCV3cBs

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 17, 2024

It will be interesting to see where the UFC accommodates McGregor since a lot of the PPVs have already been booked and planned for. But given that his name itself would break all previous UFC records, a strong suggestion could be made that the company will do what McGregor wants.