W tym celu proponuję użyć IF().
Zobacz:warunkowe-duplicate-key-updates-with-mysql
INSERT INTO daily_events (created_on, last_event_id, last_event_created_at)
VALUES ('2010-01-19', 23, '2010-01-19 10:23:11')
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE
last_event_id = IF(last_event_created_at < VALUES(last_event_created_at), VALUES(last_event_id), last_event_id);