MMA Payout has learned from Nielsen sources that Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 49 on FS1 received an average live viewership of 689,000 viewers. The rating is down slightly from UFC Fight Night 47 which drew 735,000.
In the main event on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 49, Rafael dos Anjos scored the upset with a KO of former UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson.
No word on the prelim rating although that may be a little difficult since it was on FS1 and FS2 and different points of the night due to MLB.
Payout Perspective:
The viewership number is based on live not same day viewers which may bump up this number due to those watching on the DVR. It was a long card and the second UFC card of the day which may had viewers pass on the card or DVR it and watch it later. Henderson is usually a better draw with his last showing on FS1 in June as a prime example (1.2M viewers for UFC FN 42).
A couple things about comparing this number to June’s number…
First and foremost, the prelims for that show did 812K and were on FS 1, rather than FS 2, which has had a big effect on what the main card shows do. When the prelims are on FS 2, the main card shows are down 30-40% on average.
Also, the undercard of that show had Diego Sanchez, Ross Pearson, Bryan Caraway, Rafael Dos Anjos, Scott Jorgenson, John Dodson and Erik Perez. Almost all of these are more well-known names than anyone on this past weekend’s card.
That said, there is no way to spin a show headlined by their top drawing light heavyweight doing sub-700K positively.
I wouldn’t call Erik Perez a well known name
Top drawing light heavyweight???? He isn’t even the top drawing lightweight.
Meant lightweight, sorry, and he absolutely is by quite a big margin actually. Nate Diaz is closest right now.
http://mmadraws.blogspot.ca/search/label/Top%20MMA%20Draws
HAHAHA!! You are using YOUR formula in evaluating who draws what numbers as validity?? Wow. That is nothing more than opinion. I see no actual credible numbers to back up your claims.
Those numbers are not accurate. They make no logical sense. If you are going to tell me that just prior to that loss, Benson Henderson was a bigger draw than Anthony Pettis, you are nuts. Henderson-Melendez wasn’t even on ppv because they knew it couldn’t sell there, Pettis-Melendez does a decent number guaranteed. Nate Diaz on a ppv would be dismal numbers. Now if you are only talking tv, it is an unfair comparison, because Pettis has never headlined a tv card in a title fight or when he was as highly ranked as Henderson’s been. But if you put him on right now, he would draw much bigger ratings than a contender like Henderson or someone like Diaz.
I’ve got all the stats you want to back it up but here’s the main one because it was used on the broadcast.
This was Henderson’s 8’th straight headlining fight in UFC and no one under 170 can make that claim. And until this card, none of the TV shows he’d headlined had done under 1 million viewers and none of the PPVs he’d headlined had drawn under 190K. No other person under 170 can make the same claim.
FN 42 vs Khabilov: 1.217 million on FS 1
UFC on FOX 10: 3.2 million vs Thomas
UFC 164 vs Pettis: 270,000 buys. Hendo was the champ and a WAY bigger star going into that one
UFC on FOX 7 vs Melendez: 4.17 million viewers
UFC on FOX 4 vs Diaz: 4.4 million viewers
UFC 150 v Edgar: 190,000 buys (this buyrate was down because Edgar is a weak draw and Bendo had just beaten him 6 months earlier)
UFC 144 v Edgar: 375,000 buys
Show me any lightweight with anything close to that drawing history and we’ll talk.
Sorry, mean Thomson (Josh), not Thomas
He could headline a million fights, the fact remains he is fighting on tv and not ppv for a reason- he isn’t a big draw. You are using incomparable statistics.
There are so many factors in those statistics that make them flawed.
I could get into them, but this one small point really makes that unnecessary: what fight would sell more ppvs if they were on today: Henderson vs. Melendez or Pettis vs Melendez? What fight would draw more viewers on tv? The overwhelmingly obvious answer is Pettis. He is more exciting to watch, he destroyed Henderson in their last fight and is clearly the better fighter, he is the champion, plus he is much more charismatic. If you asked anyone who follows the sport other than Benson Henderson and his trainers, they would agree.
Come back with some logic next time and we will talk.
The UFC uses tv to build up guys without a following. This is why Mighty Mouse is always on fox. Like D said there is just not enough info to say who the top draw is. But right now it is more than likely Pettis because he is champ and the belts as we know from historical numbers always sells better than not title fights. After this loss I would say Gil, Pettis, and even Cerone are going to be ahead of him.
A fighter can be a draw on TV and not be a PPV draw. Completely different platforms.
Same story….downward trend continues hahaha
Machiel, that is illogical. They may be different platforms, but the reason a champion is fighting that frequently on tv is because he is not a big draw period. Most of the big name champions do not fight on tv, so there you can’t use them as a comparative example. If Jones, Weidman, Velasquez fought on tv frequently, their numbers would be off the charts compared to Henderson. And Pettis’ numbers would definitely be better.
This is about the same # of viewers that the Nascar trucks series get.
The trucks are the 3rd tier of Nascar, the lowest nationwide tour.
Yang sucks big wang.
My metrics do attempt to compare TV viewership numbers with PPV buyrates and for the most part you can use TV numbers to estimate PPV buyrates and vice versa. Especially now when there are so many cards that need main events, you’ve got fighters moving back and forth between TV and PPV. Henderson’s main events have been fairly equally split between TV and PPV and have drawn well until this past one.
As for your point about which fight would draw better, Henderson v Melendez or Melendez v Pettis, I’m fairly certain it would be Henderson but the fact that Pettis is the champion would draw eyeballs on it’s own. If someone else was champion and it was just the guys in a top contender fight, I think Henderson outdraws him.
Pettis has no drawing history whatsoever, except against Henderson.
You just completely invalidated everything you have ever stated before. If you think that Pettis who is the champion, who defeated Henderson 2x, wouldn’t outdraw Henderson right now on ppv or tv, you are delusional. No one would agree with you.
Pettis IS THE CHAMPION though, so your hypotheticals(which most likely aren’t accurate) are irrelevant anyway. That alone will make him a bigger draw. It seems like now you are backtracking a bit.
Yeah, and Henderson went from doing 190k in his previous ppv against Edgar to doing 270k against Pettis. Not to mention Melendez-Henderson was on free tv and Melendez-Pettis is on ppv. You do the math.