Just last year, UFC 306 made history with the promotion’s one-off event at $2.4 billion Las Vegas Sphere. It recorded a $22 million live gate, which became the highest-grossing UFC event ever. However, we do not have any details about the PPV buys for the event, as stats have Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s UFC 229 headliner still at the top when it comes to the PPV buys.

Even seven years after that fight, UFC 229 still holds a 2.4 million PPV buys record, indicating how significant that fight was for Dana White and Co. But what about the lowest PPV ever? Well, it appears that two UFC legends hold the record, but fans came to defend them on a recent Instagram post. Here’s what they had to say.

Fans defend UFC legends Matt Hughes and Sean Sherk over Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov

So, the lowest PPV buys took place at UFC 42, headlined by Matt Hughes and Sean Sherk, as the event was able to record only 35,000 in PPV buys. While that looks like a very low number compared to what Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov were able to achieve, there were a lot of fans who claimed that it is unfair to compare both these numbers.

Back in the day, UFC wasn’t doing well and was facing many issues when UFC 42 happened, which was in 2003. The size and influence of the promotion wasn’t as big as it is today, and so, for many fans, the Matt Hughes vs Sean Sherk match was a fight that saved Dana White and Co. since it happened before the boom after The Ultimate Fighter came to the picture.

A defensive fan claimed, “Ufc 42 was 2 years prior to the griffin-bonnar bout, which is widely considered as the foght which revived the ufc, which implies that the event took place at the time when the promotion was declining. Putting 35k in a recession is still pretty impressive, and I bet if these fighters were in their prime and active today, this exact fight would’ve done numbers.” Similarly, another fan echoed the same, claiming, “Looking at where UFC was during UFC 42, I think the 35k is justified.”

At the time, UFC was fighting for survival, with political pressure to ban MMA in several states, limited television exposure, and financial losses. The Fertitta brothers had only recently acquired the promotion (2001), and the company’s pay-per-view footprint was tiny compared to the massive ESPN and international distribution UFC enjoys today. For that reason, comparing UFC 42’s 35k to UFC 229’s 2.4 million is apples-to-oranges.

On the other hand, some fans believe that if the money that the UFC made at UFC 42 were to see how much it’s worth today, they might be surprised. “Do it with inflation,” that fan commented. Thereafter, the fans also defended Sean Sherk and Matt Hughes, claiming that both of them put on a great fight for the fans, even though it ended in a unanimous decision for the former 2-time welterweight champion.

As one fan commented, “The muscle shark days. Sean Sherk was one of the best muscled out to tha max athletes I’ve ever seen. He fought Matt pretty darn hard in that fight too,” another added, “Matt Hughes was g too thats wild.” Also, considering that Matt Hughes has been through a lot recently, some fans urged the folks online to leave him alone. “Damn don’t do my boy Matt Hughes like that,” that Instagram user added.

Well, Sean Sherk and Matt Hughes paved the way for fighters like Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov to perform on a bigger stage. And they did exactly that, and guess what? Their UFC 229 record may never be broken after Dana White’s recent TV deal announcement.

UFC is shifting away from the traditional PPV model

The UFC recently penned a historic TV deal with Paramount+, which is worth around $7.7 billion for a total of seven years, starting from 2026. This means that the promotion will be making $1.1 billion every year, and all the UFC content will be available on Skydance’s streaming platform, with select events to simulcast on the CBS network. Moreover, the UFC is doing away with the PPV model, similar to how the WWE has been doing its business since 2021, and fans are happy about it.

“The historic deal with Paramount and CBS is incredible for UFC fans and our athletes. For the first time ever, fans in the US will have access to all UFC content without a pay-per-view model, making it more affordable and accessible to view the greatest fights on a massive platform,” Dana White tweeted not too long ago. “This deal puts UFC amongst the biggest sports in the world. The exposure provided by Paramount and CBS networks under this new structure is a huge win for our athletes and anyone who watches and loves this sport.”

It seems like 2026 will be a new era for the UFC, and there will be no chance for any fighter to create or surpass the PPV buy record set by Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. It may just come down to viewership numbers. But what do you think about Sherk and Hughes’ PPV buy record? Is it not respectable, given where the promotion was in 2003? Drop your comments below.