Just 18 months ago, it would have been folly to suggest that lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would have been part of the two biggest pay-per-view shows in UFC history.

UFC 242: Khabib vs Poirier sold around 1 million PPV buys according to Khabib’s manager Rizvan Magomedov. Rizvan (part of Dominance MMA team) told it to Russian Sport-Express:

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“Khabib earned much more money than 6 million dollars for Poirier fight. Much more, than for Conor fight. Khabib, today, is much bigger name in the world market. We don’t need McGregor or anyone else with big name. And we don’t need to do crazy things to get attention. There’s one thing about PPVs.

As you know, since this year all PPV belong to ESPN+ now. It undermined PPV numbers, doesn’t matter who fights Conor or Jon Jones. The thing is, before this, anyone in US could just open his TV and buy PPV on any channel, and get his cheque end of month. But know they have to download special app, sign up there, and only then they get a PPV. It made difficulties, people didn’t want to get bothered with this. So, PPV numbers are down. Very low.

I can’t say the exact number, but first PPV events failed – less than 300,000 buys. And only after that, they started to gain momentum and with all these hard ways, UFC 242 sold around 1 million PPV buys. The exact number will come out after 3-4 months, but it is around 1 million.”

UFC 242 Fighter Salaries:

Khabib Nurmagomedov: $6,090,000 ($6,000,000 to show, $40,000 fight week incentive pay, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus)

Dustin Poirier: $290,000 ($250,000 to show, $40,000 fight week incentive pay)

Curtis Blaydes: $165,000 ($80,000 to show, $80,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Belal Muhammad: $135,000 ($40,000 to show, $40,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus)

Paul Felder: $106,000 ($48,000 to show, $48,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Edson Barboza: $95,000 ($75,000 to show, $20,000 fight week incentive pay)

Muslim Salikhov: $77,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus)

Ottman Azaitar: $73,500 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay, $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus)

Omari Akhmedov: $72,000 ($31,000 to show, $31,000 win bonus, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Carlos Diego Ferreira: $51,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Islam Makhachev: $49,000 ($22,000 to show, $22,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Joanne Calderwood: $45,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 win bonus, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Zak Cummings: $43,000 ($33,000 to show, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Nordine Taleb: $33,000 ($23,000 to show, $10,000 fight week incentive pay)

Shamil Abdurakhimov: $27,000 ($22,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Mairbek Taisumov: $27,000 ($22,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Sarah Moras: $26,400 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $2,400 fine for missing weight, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Don Madge: $27,500 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 win bonus, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Andrea Lee: $22,000 ($18,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Davi Ramos: $21,000 ($16,000 to show, $5,000 fight week incentive pay)

Zubaira Tukhugov: $18,000 ($14,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Takashi Sato: $17,500 ($14,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Teemu Packalen: $16,000 ($12,000 to show, $4,000 fight week incentive pay)

Liana Jojua: $15,900 ($10,000 to show, $2,400 from Moras for missing weight at UFC 242, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Lerone Murphy: $13,500 ($10,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)

Fares Ziam: $13,500 ($10,000 to show, $3,500 fight week incentive pay)