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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

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