MMA Payout has learned from a Nielsen source that the UFC 188 Prelims on FX this past Saturday drew 727,000 viewers. The prelims aired on FX due to scheduling conflicts with FS1.
The fights which preceded the PPV were highlighted by two first-round stoppages. The last fight of the Prelims was Henry Cejudo and Chico Camus with Cejudo winning the fight.
Prior UFC Prelims on FX
UFC 142 – 880,000 viewers
UFC 174 – 784,000 viewers
Saturday night competition was the NHL Stanley Cup playoff Game 6 on NBC between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks. The game scored 5 million viewers and MLB Baseball on Fox which drew another 2.1 million (via TV By Numbers)
Payout Perspective:
The ratings were a modest decrease from UFC 187 but reflects a downturn this year which saw the first four UFC Prelims drawing over a 1 million viewer average. One would think that this should change next month with the big UFC 189 card and UIFC 190 in August featuring Ronda Rousey on the main card. The Prelims card was the lowest on FX since the Prelims have primarily been on based on the info we were able to dig up.
Can’t at all tell what this means for the PPV but it’s a good TV number for combat sports.
Anything over 500k viewers is a win typically