• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MMA Payout

The Business of Combat Sports

  • Home
  • MMA
    • UFC
    • Bellator
    • One
    • PFL
  • Boxing
  • Legal
  • Ratings
  • Payouts
  • Attendance
  • Gate

UFC 252 Prelims draw 831K, Top Rank Boxing 264K as lead-in on ESPN

August 18, 2020 by Jason Cruz Leave a Comment

The 3-hour UFC 252 Prelims drew 831,000 viewers on Saturday night on ESPN according to Nielsen Media Research via ShowBuzz Daily.  The event drew 375,000 viewers in the A18-49 demo.

The lead-in to UFC 252 was a Top Rank Boxing card featuring Carl Frampton. The event on Saturday afternoon drew 264,000 viewers and 83,000 in the A18-49 demo.

The 3-hour UFC prelim event featured Vince Pichel as he defeated Jim Miller via unanimous decision.  According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, the telecast peaked at 1.2 million viewers with the final hour averaging 1 million. 

UFC Prelims 2020 post-pandemic

UFC 249:  1.154M

UFC 250:   775K

UFC 251:   809K

UFC 252:   831K

Payout Perspective:

There was a slight overrun from the boxing telecast into the first hour of the prelims but that’s negligible.  The final hour of over 1 million is a good sign that many were waiting for the PPV.  Usually Top Rank boxing is after the UFC.  This time it was before but basically scored similar ratings as it usually does.  The 83K during in the A18-49 demo has to be a concern with execs. The UFC PPV Prelim rating is the second-highest post-pandemic which reflects a promising PPV number. 

Filed Under: boxing, ESPN, ratings, Top Rank, UFC

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Featured

FBI seeking no-bid contract with the UFC

Court denies Top Rank’s Motion to Dismiss in Keane case

Opetaia fires back at IBF in opposition to MTD

UFC 331 Payout Perspective

UFC 331 attendance, gate and bonuses

Scott Coker is back with Ki MMA

Archives

MMA Payout Follow

MMAPayout

I feel like crap tables minimums will be raised to $500

Joshua Lafond @joshlafond

@esidery That $13B will be carried by most of the residents. It always starts off saying these owners/investors will pay then once they start to build they start asking the city/state for money.

Enjoy the expansion team in Mexico City guys #NBA

Evan Sidery @esidery

The NBA will soon announce the Walton Laurie group as the expansion bid winners for Las Vegas with launch in 2028-29.

Nancy Walton Laurie, Bill Laurie and Raiders minority owner Egon Durban would build a new arena.

Including the arena, their official bid is around $13 billion.

Via Sports Business Journal on Vegas bidders not liking Seattle as an option

MMA Payout @MMAPayout

Greedy-ass #NBA will put a team in Mexico City for extra money now while propping up poverty franchises like New Orleans... #saveoursonics

Greedy-ass #NBA will put a team in Mexico City for extra money now while propping up poverty franchises like New Orleans... #saveoursonics

Retweet on Twitter MMA Payout Retweeted

MACK ATTACK 😤

Copyright © 2026 · MMA Payout: The Business of Combat Sports