FOX Sports 1 Will Air Replay of UFC 218 On Christmas Eve

MMA Fighting reports that the UFC will air a replay of UFC 218 on FOX Sports 1 on Christmas Eve. The show happened on December 2 in Detroit. It featured Max Holloway vs. Jose Aldo for the featherweight title (which Holloway won), as well as Francis Ngannou’s win over Alistair Overeem and Eddie Alvarez’s win over Justin Gaethje. The show will replay from 10 PM to 11:30 PM. There’s usually a 30-day window for UFC after a PPV airs before it can air on TV, but the UFC successfully made a deal with its PPV providers.

It was originally believed that UFC 217, which featured Georges St-Pierre defeating Michael BIsping, would air due to fitting in the 30-day window. The Ngannou vs. Overeem fight includes a praised KO victory. Ngannou is now moving on to challenge Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title on January 20 in Boston.

The UFC did this last year, by airing a replay of UFC 206 (which included Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis and Doo Ho Choi vs. Cub Swanson). It had a lead-in of a NFL game that was highly-rated and the UFC show managed to bring in 4,720,000 viewers. It’s the second-most viewers for a UFC event on FOX. It was also the most watched prime time network show that night, doubling the male 18-34 and 18-49 demographics of any other program. The record is 5.7 million viewers, set for the first UFC on FOX event, headlined by Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez.