If proof were needed that Conor McGregor remains the biggest draw in UFC, then it arrived late on Monday – from the man himself.
The Irishman, a former two-division champion, posted on social media evidence of the total pay-per-view buys for his rematch against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi in January, with the document reporting the event racked up more than 1.5 million buys.
With that figure in mind — 1,504,737 to be exact — McGregor has been part of every one of the top five highest-selling pay-per-views in UFC history (and eight of the top 10). For instance, his trilogy fight with Poirier, at UFC 264 in July, is estimated to have sold around 1.8m.
The former featherweight and lightweight champion, who earlier this year was named by Forbes as the highest-earning athlete in sport, is currently recovering from a broken leg sustained in that summer defeat to Poirier in Las Vegas.
Top 5 UFC pay-per-view sales all-time (reported)
1) 2.4m: McGregor v Khabib Nurmagomedov, UFC 229, T-Mobile Arena, October 2018.
Nurmagomedov wins via fourth-round submission.
2) 1.8m: McGregor v Dustin Poirier, UFC 264, T-Mobile Arena, July 2021.
Poirier wins via first-round TKO (doctor stoppage).
3) 1.6m: McGregor v Nate Diaz, UFC 202, T-Mobile Arena, August 2016.
McGregor wins via majority decision.
4) 1.5m: McGregor v Dustin Poirier, UFC257, Etihad Arena, January 2021.
Poirier wins via second-round TKO.
5) 1.35m: McGregor v Donald Cerrone, UFC 246, T-Mobile Arena, January 2019
McGregor wins via first-round TKO (40 seconds).
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
