In 2018, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) staged a total of 39 events. However, after a considerable drop in Pay-Per-View buy rates in 2017, the average number of Pay-Per-View buys recovered to approximately 447 thousand per event in 2018. One major contributor for this was UFC 229 on October 6th 2018, featuring Khabib Nurmagomedov versus Conor McGregor, resulting in the top UFC event in terms of Pay-Per-View buys with a total of 2.4 million buys.
Live attendance
During the 39 UFC events in 2018, a total of 474 fights took place, a number that’s held held rather steady since 2014. The highest live attendance was seen at UFC 193 on November 14th 2015, featuring Ronda Rousey versus Holly Holm, with a total of 56,214 attendees. UFC 129, Georges St-Pierre versus Jake Shields almost had as many live spectators with 55,724 at the octagon.
Fighter earnings
The highest all-time earnings directly through UFC fights were those of Conor McGregor at roughly 12 million U.S. dollars, however the majority of his personal income comes from other sources such as bonuses, endorsement deals, or for example his professional boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, for which he received over 75 million U.S. dollars. The earnings of fights depend heavily on the style card they fight. For example in UFC 227 Demetrious Johnson, who was fighting in main card, had the highest earning for that event with 470 thousand U.S. dollars.
Average number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys per event from 2001 to 2018
(in 1,000s)
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Forbes, & MMAmania.com. (January 11, 2019). Average number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys per event from 2001 to 2018 (in 1,000s) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved September 01, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/861468/ultimate-fighting-championship-average-ppv-buys-per-event/
Forbes, und MMAmania.com. "Average number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys per event from 2001 to 2018 (in 1,000s)." Chart. January 11, 2019. Statista. Accessed September 01, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/861468/ultimate-fighting-championship-average-ppv-buys-per-event/
Forbes, MMAmania.com. (2019). Average number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys per event from 2001 to 2018 (in 1,000s). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: September 01, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/861468/ultimate-fighting-championship-average-ppv-buys-per-event/
Forbes, and MMAmania.com. "Average Number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (Ufc) Pay-per-view (Ppv) Buys per Event from 2001 to 2018 (in 1,000s)." Statista, Statista Inc., 11 Jan 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/861468/ultimate-fighting-championship-average-ppv-buys-per-event/
Forbes & MMAmania.com, Average number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys per event from 2001 to 2018 (in 1,000s) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/861468/ultimate-fighting-championship-average-ppv-buys-per-event/ (last visited September 01, 2024)
Average number of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Pay-Per-View (PPV) buys per event from 2001 to 2018 (in 1,000s) [Graph], Forbes, & MMAmania.com, January 11, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/861468/ultimate-fighting-championship-average-ppv-buys-per-event/