UFC Fight Night 61 airing on FS1 Sunday night drew an average viewership of 1.2 million viewers in initial overnight ratings according to Nielsen. It’s the second straight year that a February Fight Night from Brazil has exceeded expectations.
Last February, UFC Fight Night 36 drew 1.4 million viewers on FS1. Last year’s event featured Lyoto Machida taking on Gegard Mousasi in the main event. Also, Ronaldo Souza took on Francis Carmont in the semi-main event. The event was on a Saturday night and went up against NBA All-Star Saturday night and the Winter Olympics.
Sunday’s event went up against the Oscars and WWE’s Fast Lane PPV. The main card started at 8pm ET and Mir’s KO of Bigfoot ended the fighting portion of the event around 11pm ET.
Broken down in demo ratings it drew 0.81 in adults 18-49, 1.16 for males 18-49 and 1.23 for males 18-34.
In addition, the UFC Prelims which immediately preceded the main card drew 813,000 viewers. The main card was anchored by an upset by Marion Reneau of Jessica Andrade.
Payout Perspective:
The overnight viewership ratings are impressive considering the amount of choices viewers had for Sunday night. Also, the fact that the event was not on the traditional Saturday night schedule may have thrown people. Mir-Bigfoot was not a marquee fight and the overall card did not amaze but the amount of upsets and action was very good and viewers still tuned in.
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