So here is the most profitable fighter by year for the UFC. I added how many pay per views were sold each year and attributed them to the two involved in the main event. Of course, this may not reflect the biggest star that year as some fighters fight more often than others and sometimes the undercard sold the card more than the main event. So it's not perfect, but interesting nonetheless. I had to stop in 2001 as no buy rate information is available as far as I can find.
2017- Conor McGregor (if you don't include May/Mac then it's Daniel Cormier)
2016- Conor McGregor
2015- Ronda Rousey
2014- Johny Hendricks/Robbie Lawler
2013- Georges St-Pierre
2012- Junior Dos Santos/Jon Jones
2011- Jon Jones
2010- Brock Lesnar
2009- BJ Penn
2008- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
2007- Anderson Silva
2006- Chuck Liddell
2005- Chuck Liddell
2004- Randy Couture/Vitor Belfort
2003- Randy Couture
2002- Tito Ortiz/Ken Shamrock/Randy Couture
2001- Tito Ortiz
TS, when GSP stepped away 4 years ago, he was the
all-time bestselling MMA PPV King. That is he sold more PPVs in his career then anyone. I am not sure if Conor ever passed GSP for
all-time MMA PPV sales but if Georges isn't #1 all-time he is certainly second. Here is an excerpt from a recent Forbes article.
Of those champions and interim champs, one ruled the roost as the king of UFC pay-per-views. That man was St-Pierre.
“Georges St. Pierre is, by far, the biggest pay-per-view star in mixed martial arts,” UFC President Dana White said in September 2011. “By far. By far the biggest pay-per-view star in MMA.”
When St-Pierre defeated Condit to unify the welterweight titles in late 2012, White reiterated that claim.
“GSP delivered again. It was awesome, it was a great weekend for us,” said White. ‘The king of pay-per-view is back. That’s what we’ll say about it.”
When St-Pierre last fought in November 2013 he still held the title of king of UFC PPVs. Today that title belongs to McGregor. Of the top five selling PPV events in UFC history, McGregor headlined four of those cards, including the record-setting UFC 202 in August 2016 which pulled in a reported 1.6 million buys.
The total number of PPV buys, according to estimates provided by
Tapology, for those 11 fights is more than 8.7 million. By comparison, McGregor, whose five headliners are all in the top 25 in UFC PPV sales, brought in more than 6.2 million buys.
Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trentr...-from-conor-mcgregor-at-ufc-217/#4c98adab19cd