With the death of the Pay-per-View model of UFC, 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, so that their content was pushed away for the first time since the founding of the PPV company.
This means that the company will leave the PPV format at the end of 2025, after years of dropping purchase percentages after the outputs of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey in recent years.
A positive thing about the move is that we can definitively rank the most purchased events in UFC history, which only proves how popular McGregor was during his peak years that were spent in the UFC, making it the biggest draw they have ever had.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
10. UFC 194 – Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor
The tenth best PPV event in the UFC history had one of the most spectacular main event finishes in the history of promotion.
UFC 194 sold 1.2 million purchases to fans who are desperate to see McGregor's Ascension at the Top Dog in the Vederweight Division, while hiring a Jose Aldo that had not been defeated in the Octagon for ten years.
They were treated to a spectacular knockout, where a brutal left hand took the Brazilian cold after 13 seconds and the Irish ointment as the UFC champion featherweight.
9. UFC 100 – Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir
As one of the biggest draws of the UFC during its time in the UFC, it is a shock to see Brock Lesnar only once on this list.
While Lesnar stands second behind McGregor for most PPV head events with more than 1 million purchases, his only recording in the top ten PPV purchases of all time for his Rematch against Frank Mir on UFC 100 is.
“The Beast” defended his UFC Heavyweight Riem against Mir and ended him with a few brutal punches against his head to defend his belt and to unite the undisputed title in one.
8. UFC 205 – Eddie Alvarez vs Conor McGregor
1.3 million people coordinated McGregor to see the first double champion in the UFC history at UFC 205.
The “notorious” hunter fought against Eddie Alvarez in New York for the UFC -Welterweight title and already entered the Arena as the featherweight champion in a historic meeting.
McGregor played Alvarez in the second round to become the “Champ Champ” and to lift both title tires with pride on an achievement that may never be repeated in the Octagon.
7. UFC 251 – Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal
The last event on this list of the largest PPV purchases of the UFC that does not include was McGregor UFC 251.
It contained a crowded map, where the company wanted to do business again after the whole world struggled during the pandemic in the summer of 2020.
The Abu Dhabi event was the most important event of Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal for the Welterweight belt, while Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway and Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo saw a full top of the map with three title fights.
6. UFC 196 – Nate Diaz vs Conor McGregor
The first collision between Nate Diaz and McGregor attracted more than 1.3 million purchases, although not many of them expected they would see the main event they were doing.
Diaz was brought in in the short term after Rafael Dos Anjos withdrew because of a broken base, giving the Ultimate Fighter winner a shot at McGregor by jumping a weight to welterweight.
Diaz 🇺🇸 vs McGregor 🇮🇪
McGregor was unbeaten in the UFC and hardly seemed to stop. Nate Diaz had the opportunity to dethen him after his legendary call.
Nate Diaz certainly delivered, he submitted Conor via Round 2 pic.twitter.com/aoehidjyq5 in round 2 pic.twitter.com
– Kenny Okoye🇳🇬 (@truthfulufcfan) December 12, 2023
View tweet
Despite the fact that he had taken the match only in the short term, Diaz drew a huge upset by choking McGregor in the second round, seen something by one of the largest PPV target groups of the UFC ever.
5. UFC 246 – Donald Cerrone vs. Conor McGregor
1.35 million Vecht fans coordinated to see McGregor's last victory in the UFC in January 2020.
The Irishman bounced back from his defeat against Khabib Nurmagomedov on UFC 229 in a large way and earned a TKO victory on Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds.
Even at the end of his career, McGregor turned out to be a huge draw when 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 was not the most purchased of the three (more about that later), but it still helped the dominance of the Irish as the biggest draw in the UFC.
UFC 264 played host for their last meeting, with more than 1.5 million fans who match the event.
The fight did not go as planned, because McGregor suffered a broken leg when he stepped awkward in the first round.
He was forced out of the fight because of the interruption of a doctor in what his last fight ever was, from 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 purchases to see notorious revenge.
Only a few months after the first fight, McGregor fought against a more controlled fight, and did not let himself be knocked down and choked again.
This fight went the distance, where McGregor did enough to win through a unanimous decision to even win 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 Knock -Out “Diamond” on the way to featherweight gold in 2014, where the UFC legend seven years later earned a Rematch after the victory of McGregor over Cerrone.
In what was a huge shock, McGregor was turned upside down by Poirier, who brought him to the ground and forced the referee to end the fight, gained a TKO victory in the night, for 1.6 million viewers at home.
1. UFC 229 – Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor
The Superfight between McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov has the highest purchase percentage of a PPV in the UFC history, a record that will never be broken now.
Two years after he became a double champion by beating Alvarez, McGregor shook the ring against one of the most dangerous hunters in the world in Khabib.
2.4 million people paid to see McGregor tap a neck crank, so that Khabib cementes as a dominant champion in the largest event that the company has ever attracted.
From the top ten most purchased PPVs in the history of UFC, McGregor was the headline act in eight of them, so that he was confirmed as the greatest draw of the promotion ever.