All 20,000 tickets for Conor McGregor's upcoming fight sold out in four minutes, averaging 83 tickets per second. Merab Dvalishvili suffered a broken nose during a grappling session with Frankie Edgar at RAF, though he downplayed the injury. Ben Askren is scheduled to face Belal Muhammad at a RAF event on July 18, with Muhammad's first question upon being offered the fight being whether Askren was in good health.
Conor McGregor's return to the cage is already generating extraordinary commercial numbers, with all 20,000 tickets for his upcoming fight snapped up in just four minutes — a pace of roughly 83 sales per second.
Elsewhere in the sport, bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili suffered a broken nose during a grappling session with Frankie Edgar at the RFU Academy of Fighting, though the Georgian downplayed the setback. Dvalishvili, 35, carries a 21-5 record and sits ranked first in the bantamweight division and second in the pound-for-pound standings. Known as "The Machine," he backs up that nickname with an elite 6.4 takedowns per 15 minutes and a relentless pace of 4.33 significant strikes landed per minute.
Ben Askren is set to return to competition, with a welterweight bout against Belal Muhammad booked for a RAF event on July 18. Muhammad, 37, reportedly asked first whether Askren was in good health before accepting the matchup. The 24-5 "Remember the Name" is ranked sixth at welterweight and eighth in the pound-for-pound rankings, averaging 4.43 significant strikes per minute with a 43 percent accuracy rate and 2.14 takedowns per 15 minutes. Askren, 41, holds a 19-2 record and brings a grappling-heavy style to the matchup, averaging 4.33 takedowns per 15 minutes across his career and landing significant strikes at 3.64 per minute on 49 percent accuracy.
Why it matters
- Askren vs. Muhammad pits a high-volume grappler against a ranked welterweight with pound-for-pound recognition, making it a meaningful test of where Askren stands after time away.
- A Dvalishvili injury in camp bears watching given his status as the division's top-ranked contender.
- McGregor's ticket demand underscores his continued commercial pull regardless of competitive context.
