The UFC 189 World Tour is Dana White’s most expensive gamble ever

Forget Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao. There is another anticipated match-up that’s going to break all sorts of records.

ONE of the UFC’s most polarising fighters, Conor McGregor, is in the midst of promoting his featherweight championship showdown with Jose Aldo — and he is doing it in style.

Dressed in a tailored suit, the Irish challenger posed for a photoshoot in a bank vault in front of millions of dollars in cash.

The picture drew comparisons with Muhammad Ali’s iconic 1964 Sports Illustrated cover — but it is also symbolic of the lengths the UFC is going to promote the highly-anticipated fight.

Months of trash talk between the pair erupted after McGregor beat Dennis Siver by TKO in the second round of their January bout.

Immediately after his victory, McGregor scaled the Octagon and challenged Aldo, the UFC’s first and only featherweight champion.

The boisterous Boston crowd ate it up — the moment immediately becoming one of the sport’s most iconic in its controversial 20-year history.

In the wake of the commotion, UFC president Dana White announced the trash-talking McGregor would get challenge Aldo for the UFC featherweight title at the July 11 pay-per-view, UFC 189.

Feeling the match had the potential to be the biggest spectacle of the year, Dana White decided he needed a fight promotion the likes of the world had never seen.

As a result, the self-styled UFC 189 World Tour was born.

The whirlwind promotional tour has taken the fighters to Rio, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, Toronto, London and Ireland to promote the fight.

But if you think Aldo and McGregor are slumming it in economy class, you are very much mistaken.

Jose “Scarface” Aldo and Connor “Notorious” McGregor

The UFC has taken a no holds barred approach to this promotion, with each of the fighters flown in their own private jets before resting their heads in world class accommodation.

“I’m going to go out there and say, we probably spent more money promoting this fight that we have ever spent on any fight in UFC history,” Dana White said on the UFC Tonight.

“When you have a fight where countries, literally countries, care about the fight, it’s a big deal.

“All of Brazil will be watching (Aldo) defend his title, all of the UK will be watching and then you have Canada, the United States, and Australia.

“It’s a big deal fight. It’s a big enough deal that we are doing this World Tour.”

To make the most of his investment, White has ensured each of the fighters are followed by film crews.

The footage taken is then showcased on UFC Embedded — a video blog series that debuted last year and is used to promote fights.

With a video blog posted after each visit to a new city on the tour, UFC fans get behind-the-scenes access of the fighters.

The initiative also showcases the building tension between Aldo and McGregor who have becoming increasingly tiresome of each other during the promotions.

With each episode of The UFC 189 World Tour series receiving hundreds of thousands of views, Dana White expects his initial investment will pay off handsomely.

The UFC president expects UFC 189 to be the fastest-selling event in the history of the sport and is estimating $7 million dollars from the gate alone.

“We ain’t out here spending the money ’cause we didn’t expect it. I expected it. That was my vision: This thing was going to be the biggest fight of the year and coming off the biggest and best first quarter that this company has ever had. Ever,” he told MMAfighting.

“That is saying a lot because we’ve had some pretty damn good years. This first quarter was the best in this company’s history.”

McGregor has echoed his boss’ sentiments and believes the pay-per-view will easily have more than a million buys and will surpass UFC 100 as the best-selling promotional pay-per-view in history

“I believe it breaks all records. Everything I do smashes records ... anything I touch turns to gold,” he said.

Aldo, on the other hand, has remained humbled throughout the whole experience suggesting he will let his fighting do the talking for him.

All hell has broken loose in Dublin, Ireland "There's only one Conor McGregor" July 11th cannot come soon enough pic.twitter.com/eKEzXnK44t

— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 31, 2015

Since the initial meeting in Rio de Janeiro on March 20, the fighters have been wearing each other down.

Between the death threats, endless taunting and minor scuffles, it is surprising the pair hasn’t come to blows.

The UFC 189 world tour finally came to an end in Dublin today and it didn’t disappoint.

After remaining reasonably civil for the entirety of the tour, Aldo decided to take a page out of his opponent’s book.

“I’m the king of Dublin,” he proclaimed before a riotous crowd.

Not willing to be outdone in front of the Irish faithful, McGregor jumped up from his seat and reached over White to grab Aldo’s featherweight title belt.

“You’re looking at the king,” McGregor shouted.

Luckily, White was there to calm the situation and the rest of the conference went off without a hitch.

With the tour now finished, only time will tell if the investment is a lucrative as first anticipated.

Regardless of the numbers, the sport has continued to build its international profile and has set a new benchmark for promoting fights in the digital age.