10 Highest Selling UFC PPVs In History

Controversy creates cash.

by Andrew Pollard
UFC 202: Diaz v McGregor 2
2016 Getty Images

With UFC 241 on the horizon, fight fans are massively looking forward to seeing Daniel Cormier defend the UFC Heavyweight Championship against the man he beat for the belt a year ago, Stipe Miocic.

Now, while it’s always all eyes forward for the world of MMA and the UFC, of course there’s always that hope that the company can mirror the huge successes and financial rewards that the organisation has seen over previous years.

In recent times, the UFC has often struggled to bring in big PPV buyrates for shows that don’t feature Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey. With Conor’s future currently up in the air and Ronda contracted to WWE, the UFC is desperate to create a star who could match the level of mainstream popularity – and PPV buys! – of those two.

The subject of PPV buys is what we’re going to look at here, as we highlight just how huge some of them were over the years. Some of the 250,000, 400,000 or even 700,000 pay-per-view orders seen recently are utterly dwarfed by the mega-money paydays that the company has seen in the past.

10. UFC 114 - 1,050,000

UFC 202: Diaz v McGregor 2
Eric Jamison/AP/Press Association Images

May 2010’s UFC 114 was a stacked card that took place at a time when the UFC’s light heavyweight division was really taking centre-stage. As such, the headline bout of this PPV was ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans facing Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.

The rivalry between this pair is legendary, with both viewed as all-time greats in the sport of MMA. On that 2010 night, though, the Vegas crowd saw Evans come out on top with a unanimous decision victory.

The rest of the UFC 114 card was filled out by Michael Bisping defeated Dan Miller, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira beating Jason Brilz, Josh Hathaway besting Diego Sanchez, and a stunning first-round submission win for Ryan Jensen.

For the UFC’s bank balance, the 15,000 in attendance brought in a gate of nearly $4 million to add to the event’s 1,050,000 PPV buys.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.