diff --git a/app-misc/tmux/tmux-1.9a.ebuild b/app-misc/tmux/tmux-1.9a.ebuild
index df654947cb462..6f015ef3e5ed3 100644
--- a/app-misc/tmux/tmux-1.9a.ebuild
+++ b/app-misc/tmux/tmux-1.9a.ebuild
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ IUSE="debug selinux vim-syntax"
 
 COMMON_DEPEND="
 	>=dev-libs/libevent-2.0.10
+	<dev-libs/libevent-2.5.1
 	sys-libs/ncurses"
 DEPEND="${COMMON_DEPEND}
 	virtual/pkgconfig"
diff --git a/app-misc/tmux/tmux-2.0-r1.ebuild b/app-misc/tmux/tmux-2.0-r1.ebuild
index e85f50a819be1..55b653a6cf555 100644
--- a/app-misc/tmux/tmux-2.0-r1.ebuild
+++ b/app-misc/tmux/tmux-2.0-r1.ebuild
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ IUSE="debug selinux vim-syntax"
 
 CDEPEND="
 	>=dev-libs/libevent-2.0.10
+	<dev-libs/libevent-2.5.1
 	!sys-apps/utempter
 	sys-libs/ncurses"
 DEPEND="${CDEPEND}