UFC 235 Prelim Ratings Match Second-Best Numbers Since 2013
The UFC 235 prelims last weekend (Sat. March 2, 2019) did very well ratings-wise.
According to MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer, the prelims averaged a 1.0 rating based on overnight ratings in the metered market. That’s the same number as the UFC 234 prelims last month, which resulted in a 1,339,000 viewership number. With that, the UFC 235 prelims have tied several other shows for the second-best pay-per-view (PPV) overnight prelim ratings since 2013.
They only trail the UFC 205 prelims, which was the UFC’s first show from Madison Square Garden, and was headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez. The UFC 235 prelims were headlined by Jeremy Stephens vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov. Johnny Walker also had a 36-second knockout win over Misha Cirkunov. Not to mention Diego Sanchez opening the prelims with a second-round thrashing of Mickey Gall.
Audience numbers will be available on Tuesday. The report also suggests that UFC 235 did relatively normal as opposed to big PPV numbers based on Google searches for the event. The PPV was the number one searched item in the country Saturday with more than a million searches. Usually, shows like that will do between 250,000 to 400,000 buys.
