Ticket prices, atmosphere and the quality of the cards themselves — long-time fans say the live UFC experience isn't what it used to be. Four fans explain why, in their own words.
The Former HP Pavilion in San Jose During a UFC Event — Ron Hall, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In recent years there has been a sentiment amongst fans that the experience of attending a live UFC event has changed.
Whether it’s the quality of cards, ticket prices or the atmosphere in the arena, many fans and media members agree that events in general are losing their magic.
That isn’t to say that all UFC events are declining. Milestone events like the UFC White House Card, UFC 300 and the Sphere card show that when the UFC pulls out all the stops, they can still turn MMA into a major spectacle.
But some fans who have been attending UFC events over a prolonged period of time have noticed a drop in the average experience.
I spoke to four UFC fans and MMA content contributors and asked them what they believe are the biggest changes to the live UFC experience in recent years.
This investigation will look at the common threads across these discussions and take a deeper look at the increase in ticket prices over the last 20 years.
MMA journalist, covering the sport pitch-side for around two years and UFC event attendee since 2017
Following MMA for over five years and also trains in combat sports
Three years in MMA media and over 10 years as a fan
Social media manager and UFC fan for six years
All four interviewees contribute to Combat Evolved Sports, the MMA outlet the author also writes for. Their views combine first-hand fan experience with professional exposure to the sport's media coverage.
Ticket prices are a contentious subject amongst recent UFC event attendees. In recent years, the rise in ticket prices
has been one of the most prevalent topics of conversation amongst fans, but have they actually been increasing
as much as people suggest? And if so, is this just a recent trend?
To test this theory, I analysed ticket data across the past 20 years to see how much the average ticket price has
actually changed.
Find out how the average ticket price was calculated .
Step 1 of 3
* 2026 data includes events until the 16th of May
01
Here's the average UFC ticket price of these eight arenas 2007 – 2026.
There's now a marked increase in average ticket price.
02
Group those years together and there's a clear split around 2016.
03
Fans are now paying over double the amount they used to between 2007 and 2015.
The UK-based fans that I spoke to all agreed that ticket price was a significant issue.
"Ticket price is a massive thing. I would say that’s probably the biggest thing actually… I’ve been watching the sport for over 10 years now but I wouldn’t even now, as a fan, I wouldn’t consider buying tickets."
"It's staggering — like an extra 30% of what I paid before to now attend ... I think fans are being priced out by these extortionate ticket prices."
"You can go watch a Cage Warriors show for £66 ... I was in the top rows of the O2 and I think I paid around £150 to watch two microscopic UFC fighters fight ... what felt like miles away."
"Going to the other event, UFC London, Edwards versus Brady, was almost just as much [as UFC 304], but it was a Fight Night instead of a numbered card. And I think that really just sums up to me that I think the prices are really not fair. They always seem to be increasing, even if it's just by a little margin."
While the sport of MMA has grown significantly, it would be unfair to say that there are more stars in the UFC now than there were in the past. Prior to 2016, the UFC still had stars like Ronda Rousey, Georges St- Pierre, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar headlining cards.
The real difference may have been that one star eclipsed them all. 2016 was the year of Conor McGregor – becoming a simultaneous double champion elevated him to a level of stardom that transcended the sport:
"Maybe it has some impact to do with how in that era with Conor McGregor coming out and being one of the biggest stars in MMA. Clearly the UFC must have thought that there was going to be even more stars who were going to be just as big."
"I think it's the Conor McGregor effect: you can see in the timelines that 2016 was sort of the height of the McGregor era. I think, unfortunately, it's a good and bad thing because, one, it was great for bringing our fans in, but also, I think with that popularity of the UFC they started thinking 'okay, we can make a bit more money here, let's increase these prices.'"
Atmosphere was another hot topic amongst fans when discussing the changes to recent UFC events.
Most interviewees agreed that at recent UFC events they’d attended, the atmosphere was diminished compared to previous events or failed to meet their expectations.
"When I did Glasgow, first, I was a fan ... the whole crowd erupted ... [at UFC London] it was not until midway through to the end of the prelims that the venue started to fill out."
Ticket prices have been a large contributor to this diminished atmosphere:
"Yeah, do you know what, I do [think ticket prices have affected the atmosphere]… It feels like people, like at the most recent event in March 2026, like, it just feels like people were just sort of cheering to cheer."
"The UFC can't expect the fans to just show full support, full atmosphere, full passion towards the event, if they're having to pay so much money."
There’s also an argument made that the pricing of tickets is changing the kinds of fans in attendance:
"There just doesn't seem as much passion. And I think it is because the level of fanship or level of fan, however you want to phrase it, is that they have actually no idea who these people are."
"The fans that go to the smaller shows ... they are real, real fans. UFC is such a big brand that I don't think everyone in the crowd is necessarily a mega UFC fan."
The strength of cards has been one of the loudest complaints amongst UFC fans in recent years. Many fans have claimed that the UFC fails to adequately stack each UFC event with the quality of matchups it deserves:
"You look at UFC 205 when Conor McGregor won the lightweight title off Eddie Alvarez — you had fighters like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and Frank Edgar on the prelims. You would never see something like that happen nowadays ... because they've got so many different licensing deals with Paramount, Fox, ESPN — they've got to fulfil these deals, put on a certain amount of events per year. I don't think they've got the quality of fighters to produce the good quality cards fans want to see."
This argument has been particularly loud amongst UK fans with many suggesting UK events are suffering from a lack of star power and poor matchmaking.
"You've got Nathaniel Wood, who's probably been the best two fights I've seen live at UFC, and they're still giving him unranked opponents."
"I don't think we'll see Tom Aspinall or Paddy Pimblett fight in the UK again if it's not a pay-per-view ... once the fight reaches a certain level, they outgrow the UK market."
Not all fans put this responsibility solely on the UFC, however. Some argue that disappointing contests are a part of the sport, regardless of the UFC’s matchmaking decisions.
"I don't think we can blame the UFC for the downgrading quality ... it's more fans' expectations, ready to see something special, through social media highlight reels. You could look at McGregor versus Holloway — we were expecting a war, and it ends in disappointment due to an injury. There's always that small possibility."
It’s fair to say that overall fans are feeling let down by the quality of UFC events. Rising ticket prices, weakening cards and suffering event atmospheres are all contributing to this perceived decline in the live UFC event experience.
Fans and media are recognising that the UFC’s focus is shifting more than ever to commercial progress and it’s impacting the quality of events:
"I just think that ultimately, the UFC are, like you could say for a long time about the business, but I just think they are so interested in the profit side of things… And like I think sometimes as fans, like we just sort of let the UFC get away with s*** that ultimately doesn't make the business better. It harms it. Yeah, I just think it is really showing in a live experience."
"I think The UFC is entertainment more than a sport these days ... it's gone down that sort of WWE storylines route ... it's all about the big money."
Methodology
To find a proxy for the average ticket price, I divided the live gate by the attendance for every UFC event that had publicly available data. Each year's average ticket price was then adjusted for inflation against the initial 2007 year marker.
To account for variation in venue types or event status over time, I solely used venues that have been used across multiple years in this time frame. There were eight venues in total that met this criteria: