By: Sean Crose
It’s only fitting perhaps that a professional sporting event that was said to be born and bred online ended up dominating the social medial site over the summer. For, in the weeks leading up to Floyd Mayweather’s 10th round victory over UFC star Conor McGregor on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Twitter blew up, with a stunning nine and a half million Tweets being recorded regarding the fight. “Boxing and MMA fans alike have had the fight on their minds and it has shown in their Tweets,” declared an email from the website. “There have been more than 9.5 million mentions about the fight since it was announced in June.”
Photo Credit: USA Today
According to Twitter, the “Top 3 Most Tweeted Moments” were:
– Floyd Mayweather wins fight in 10th round (185K Tweets; 12:53am ET)
– Conor McGregor wobbly as 9th round comes to an end (80K Tweets; 12:50am ET)
– Floyd Mayweather lands consecutive punches on McGregor in 9th round (60K Tweets; 12:48am ET)
While this may all come across as rather marginal, it’s indicative of just how big a deal the much hyped, much maligned, and – yes – much enjoyed Mayweather-McGregor fight truly was. Twitter is known for having its finger on the pulse of society. And Mayweather-McGregor was clearly one of the hottest topics outside of hard news throughout the summer months Sure enough, internet fandom has been credited with making the fight happen in the first place. Whether it was tacky and unserious or not, Mayweather Promotions and the UFC gave the public the fight it clearly wanted over the weekend.
Yet it’s clear that Twitter the entity, as opposed to Twitter the online microphone, wanted in on the Mayweather-McGregor action in the lead up to the bout. For the site even went so far as to create emojis for each fighter. Needless to say, both Mayweather and McGregor have huge Twitter followings themselves. Mayweather’s followers log in at the seven million figure, while McGregor can boast a thunderous five million followers of his own.
Now that the dust is finally settling, Mayweather-McGregor looks to perhaps be the most lucrative event in the history of combat sports – and most likely one of the most lucrative events in the history of sports in general. Twitter unquestionably played a role in the fight’s popularity, and it’s been rewarded with user Tweets nearing the tens of millions.
