UFC 205 Preliminary Card Brings In Massive Ratings
The UFC 205 prelims on FOX Sports 1 did very well, to say the least. The prelims, which were headlined by Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens, drew 1,801 million viewers. This is up from the UFC 204 prelims that drew 678,000 viewers. It’s well known that Conor McGregor is a draw as the events that he fights on usually do major business for the UFC as well as for the prelims of those events. The average viewership number for PPV prelims on FS1 is 1,104,000 viewers.
The UFC 205 pre-fight show drew 642,000 viewers, while the post-fight show drew 281,000 viewers, and the weigh-ins drew 255,000 viewers.
Viewership for the UFC 202 prelims did an average of 1,300 million viewers, which saw McGregor fight Nate Diaz for the second time. The UFC 202 prelims were down 30% from the UFC 196 prelims that did 1,843 million viewers, which McGregor and Diaz fight for the first time.
The event went up against stiff competition as the show went up against the LSU – Arkansas game drew 2,351 million on ESPN.
The UFC returns to television this Saturday with two events. UFC Fight Night 99 takes place on Saturday morning at The SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The entire event airs on UFC Fight Pass. UFC Fight Night 100 takes place later that day at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil and will air on FOX Sports 1.
