UFC 206 Replay Delivers Big Ratings On FOX

The UFC’s unusual tactic paid off big on Christmas Eve this past weekend as the promotion aired its latest pay-per-view event, UFC 206, for free on big FOX.

The broadcast replayed the event which took place on December 10, 2016 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The version that aired on FOX was only two hours long and featured selected fights from the event.

UFC 206 on FOX averaged 4.7 million viewers, with a 1.6/6 Nielsen rating in the highly-coveted 18-49 demographic, which was the highest rated broadcast across all of the four major American television networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX) during the 8-10 PM ET primetime slot. The rating greatly benefited from the late NFL on FOX games, as they served as a lead-in to its 8 PM ET timeslot.

The four fights featured were Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis, Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown, Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi, and John Makdessi vs. Lando Vannata. Last weekend marked the first time that the UFC had ever packaged a re-broadcast of a pay-per-view for the FOX network. This was a good sign for the UFC, as the UFC 206 PPV reportedly only drew 150,000 PPV buys, which is a low count for the largest MMA promotion in the world. Fans shouldn’t be surprised if the UFC does this again next year. However, they will have to luck out on whatever event they plan to air being a great event with a ton of action.

The UFC returns to television this Friday night (Dec. 30, 2016) in a big way as former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returns to the world famous Octagon when she challenges current titleholder Amanda Nunes for the title at UFC 207. The prelims for the event will air on FOX Sports 1 while the main card will air on pay-per-view (PPV).