• 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 288 PPV Prelims draw 853K

May 10, 2023 by Jason Cruz Leave a Comment

The UFC 288 PPV Prelims on ESPN drew 853,000 viewers on Saturday night which was good enough for #1 in cable ratings.

The telecast drew 0.32 in the 18-49 demo, 0.19 F18-49, 0.46 M18-49, 0.29 18-34, 0.12 F12-34, 0.34 M12-34, 0.36 25-54, 0.32 in the over 50.

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – MAY 05: (L-R) Opponents Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo face off during the UFC 288 ceremonial weigh-in at Prudential Center on May 05, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

The early UFC Prelims were aired also on ESPN2 for just 10 minutes due to an overrun but still drew 634,000 viewers and was 10th place overall in cable with 0.17 in the 18-49 demo, 0.11 F18-49, 0.23 M18-49, 0.14 18-34, 0.08 F12-34, 0.16 M12-34, 0.18 25-54 and 0.31 in over 50. 

The early prelims featured Parker Porter and Braxton smith with Porter getting the victory with a TKO via punches.  Also, Ikram Aliskerov defeated Phil Hawes via KO due to punches in the first round of the early prelims.  Finally Claudio Ribeiro stopped Joseph Holmes via TKO in the second round of their matchup.

The PPV Prelims saw Matt Frevola stop Drew Dober via TKO due to punches in the first round as well despite objection from Dober.

Payout Perspective:

The ratings are down from last month’s 1.115M viewers for UFC 287 but still the key 18-49 demo pulled through to top the NHL Playoff game on TNT that started an hour earlier.

Filed Under: ESPN, Prelims, ratings, UFC

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Primary Sidebar

Featured

Injunction filed against Mayweather from fighting this Saturday

The UFC’s undying loyalty to Trump

Plaintiffs in Johnson antitrust lawsuit claim White’s devices “wiped” intentionally

Alex Periera accused of sexual assault, coercive sexual encounters, stalking

Court denies request to halt UFC White House event

Plaintiffs file Reply Brief in White House lawsuit

Archives

MMA Payout Follow

MMAPayout

Injunction filed against Mayweather from fighting this Saturday https://mmapayout.com/2026/06/21/injunction-filed-against-mayweather-from-fighting-this-saturday/

Retweet on Twitter MMA Payout Retweeted

@Josh_HokitUFC You’re gonna cry you were cancelled by the left for “free speech”. And then you’ll post 200 times a day on Twitter until fox and friends invites you on to “tell your story”. And after that you’ll run for congress and your campaign will be centered on white grievance.

This is

Real question. Was this announced or is there an intern somewhere that is taking note of ever fighter’s follow and unfollow?

Championship Rounds @ChampRDS

Ian Garry unfollowed PFL fighter Alexei Pergande after a clip resurfaced of him taking down Garry in sparring:

"Ian Garry is lying about me... I'm not sure why he made up a lie [about me filming him without permission]."

(via alexei_pergande/TT)

Great another weird move white belts will try on me in class Monday #bjj

ACD MMA @acdmma_

HOLY SHIT

THE FIRST SCOTTISH TWISTER IN UFC HISTORY BY MURTAZALI MAGOMEDOV 😮

Load More

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