Conor McGregor’s not as popular as Brock Lesnar, claims former UFC heavyweight champion

Conor McGregor isn't as big of a needle mover as Brock Lesnar, according to Frank Mir.

The two-time UFC heavyweight champion takes on Todd Duffee in the main event at UFC Fight Night 71. While promoting the bout on FOX Sports, the topic changed to the UFC's newest interim champion. Despite UFC 189 being an internationally huge event that Dana White claims "broke all the records", Mir thinks that McGregor doesn't have the drawing power that Brock Lesnar had as heavyweight champion.

"Everybody talks right now about Conor McGregor, how big Conor McGregor is. I don’t think any of Conor McGregor’s pay-per-views have outsold what Brock Lesnar’s pay-per-views were up to this point. This past weekend might do so, but as of now every time Brock stepped into the arena, he’s a fan favorite."

He acknowledged how much of a star McGregor is in Ireland, but still thinks that UFC 189 was nowhere near as big of a card as UFC 100, the event in which Lesnar brutally knocked him out in the headline bout.

"People just go nuts over the guy. It’s always better to be remembered than forgotten and that just goes to show you the power that Brock Lesnar has. People still talk about UFC 100 to this day."   "That’s still the bar that everybody compares events to. Even this last weekend with Conor McGregor, who has a whole country behind him and I don’t think anybody’s had foreigners travel to a fight like he does, and still we compare it to UFC 100.”

Hat-tip to BJ Penn