UFC Fight Night 106 Sees Increase In Viewership
Despite the UFC putting some intriguing fights together and the event delivering with quality, UFC Fight Night 106 did not draw as much as the promotion, as well as FOX Sports, wanted it to. The main card drew 946,000 viewers, which is up from the UFC Fight Night 105 event’s main card that did 907,000. The prelims drew 830,000 viewers, which is also up from Fight Night 105 prelims that did 760,000. The prelim numbers are still good as the average UFC Fight Night prelims on the TV Network were 730,000.
A middleweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum will serve as the event headliner. Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will fight Gian Villante in the co-main event. Rounding out the main card is Edson Barboza vs. Beneil Dariush in a lightweight bout, Jussier Formiga vs. Ray Borg in a flyweight bout, Bethe Correia vs. Marion Reneau in a female bantamweight bout and Tim Means vs. Alex Oliveira in a welterweight bout.
The pre-fight show did 440,000 viewers. What is bad is that the post-fight show did not crack the top 150 shows on cable.
The UFC will be holding an event this weekend, but it will not air FOX Sports but rather the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass. UFC Fight Night 107 takes place on Saturday, March 18, 2017, at the O2 Arena in London, England. A light heavyweight bout between Jimi Manuwa and TUF 19 light heavyweight winner Corey Anderson will headline the event while Alan Jouban vs. Gunnar Nelson in a welterweight bout will co-main event this show.
