With the death of UFC’s pay-per-view model, Conor McGregor is confirmed as the true biggest draw in UFC history.
Dana White announced that the UFC had signed a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount, pushing their content away from PPV for the first time since the company’s inception.
This means that the company will abandon the PPV format at the end of 2025, after years of dropping buy rates following the exits of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey in the last few years.
One positive of the move is that we can definitively rank the most-bought events in UFC history, which only proves how popular McGregor was during his peak years spent in the UFC, making him the biggest draw they’ve ever had.
10. UFC 194 – Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor
The tenth-best-selling PPV event in UFC history had one of the most spectacular main event finishes in the promotion’s history.
UFC 194 sold 1.2 million buys to fans desperate to see McGregor’s ascension to the top dog in the Featherweight division, as he took on a Jose Aldo who had not been beaten for a decade in the octagon.
They were treated to a spectacular knockout, where a brutal left hand after 13 seconds knocked the Brazilian out cold and anointed the Irishman as the UFC Featherweight champion.
9. UFC 100 – Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir
As one of the UFC’s biggest draws during his time in the UFC, it is a shock to see Brock Lesnar only featured once on this list.
While Lesnar is second behind McGregor for the most PPV main events with over 1 million buys, his only inclusion in the top ten PPV buys of all time is for his rematch against Frank Mir at UFC 100.
“The Beast” defended his UFC Heavyweight belt against Mir, finishing him via TKO with some brutal punches to the head to defend his belt and unify the undisputed title in one fell swoop.
8. UFC 205 – Eddie Alvarez vs Conor McGregor
1.3 million people tuned in to see McGregor become the first double champion in UFC history at UFC 205.
The “Notorious” fighter battled Eddie Alvarez in New York for the UFC Welterweight title, walking into the arena already as the Featherweight champion in a historic meeting.
McGregor knocked out Alvarez in the second round to become the “Champ Champ”, hoisting both title belts aloft with pride in an achievement that may never be repeated in the octagon.
7. UFC 251 – Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal
The final event on this list of the UFC’s biggest PPV buys that does not include McGregor was UFC 251.
It featured a packed card, with the company looking to get back to business after the whole world struggled during the pandemic in the summer of 2020.
The Abu Dhabi event was the main event by Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal for the Welterweight belt, while Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway and Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo saw a packed top of the card with three title fights.
6. UFC 196 – Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor
The first clash between Nate Diaz and McGregor attracted over 1.3 million buys, although not many of them expected to see the main event they did.
Diaz was bused in at short notice after Rafael dos Anjos pulled out due to a broken foot, giving the Ultimate Fighter winner a shot at McGregor by jumping a weight up to Welterweight.
Despite only taking the bout on short notice, Diaz pulled off a massive upset by choking out McGregor in the second round, something seen by one of the UFC’s largest PPV audiences ever.
5. UFC 246 – Donald Cerrone vs. Conor McGregor
1.35 million fight fans tuned in to see McGregor’s final win in the UFC back in January 2020.
The Irishman bounced back from his defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in a big way, earning a TKO victory over Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds.
Even at the end of his career, McGregor proved to be a massive draw whenever he set foot in the octagon.
4. UFC 264 – Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 3
The third and final fight of the McGregor vs Dustin Poirier trilogy wasn’t the most bought of the three (more on that later), but it still helped secure the Irishman’s dominance as the biggest draw in the UFC.
UFC 264 played host to their final encounter, with over 1.5 million fans tuning in for the event.
The fight didn’t go as planned, as McGregor suffered a broken leg when he stepped back awkwardly in the first round.
He was forced out of the fight due to a doctor’s stoppage in what was his last fight ever, as of August 2025.
3. UFC 202 – Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor 2
The rematch between McGregor and Diaz had even more hype than the first fight, with UFC 202 earning an extra 300,000 buys to see Notorious enact his revenge.
Just months after the initial bout, McGregor fought a more controlled fight, not letting himself be taken down and choked out again.
This fight went the distance, with McGregor doing enough to win by unanimous decision to even the score 1-1 against Diaz in Las Vegas.
2. UFC 257 – Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 2
The long-awaited rematch between McGregor and Dustin Poirier was one of the most hyped UFC fights of all time.
Notorious knocked out “Diamond” en route to Featherweight gold in 2014, with the UFC legend earning a rematch seven years later after McGregor’s win over Cerrone.
In what was a huge shock, McGregor was rocked by Poirier, who took him to the ground and forced the referee to end the fight, earning a TKO victory on the night, in front of 1.6 million viewers at home.
1. UFC 229 – Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor
The superfight between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov has the highest buy rate of any PPV in UFC history, a record which will now never be broken.
Two years after he became a double champion by beating Alvarez, McGregor shook off the ring rust against one of the most dangerous fighters in the world in Khabib.
2.4 million people paid to see McGregor tap out to a neck crank, cementing Khabib as a dominant champion in the biggest event the company ever put on.
Of the top ten most-bought PPVs in UFC history, McGregor was the headline act in eight of them, cementing him as the promotion’s biggest draw ever.