UFC 205 Preliminary Card Gets Third Best Ratings On FS1

MMA Fighting reports that the preliminary card for UFC 205 didn’t break the record for FOX Sports 1, only managing to get the third-largest numbers for PPV prelims. The card had Frankie Edgar vs. Jeremy Stephens and Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Michael Johnson. It brought in 1,801,000 viewers, only falling behind two other events headlined by Conor McGregor.

The record is UFC 194 prelims (1,931,000), which had a main card that featured McGregor beating Jose Aldo for the featherweight title. It was also behind the preliminary card for UFC 196 (1,843,000), which had the first McGregor fight with Nate Diaz. UFC 205 was above the prelims of UFC 200, which had 1,768,000 viewers. It’s the best numbers of the year in the male and adults 18-49 demographics, along with the male and adults 18-34 demographic. It was behind UFC 196 in the over-50 viewership and overall viewership.

FOX Sports 1 managed to beat ESPN college football head-to-head in the 18-49 demo with 1,106,000 viewers For FS1 compared to 895,000 for ESPN’s coverage of LSU vs. Arkansas. Both demo numbers (male and overall 18-49) set records for PPV prelims. The show was against college football airings on ABC, FOX, ESPN and ESPN 2, which brought in a combined 14.2 million viewers. On FOX Sports’ streaming service, the prelims had 101,929 streams, 40,653 of which were unique. The average minute of the two hours were viewed by 10,151 devices.

Meanwhile, the weigh-ins from Madison Square Garden on Friday brought in 255,000 viewers. The record is still 358,000 for the first McGregor vs. Diaz weigh-in. The pre-fight show had 642,000 viewers. The record once again is held by the first McGregor/Diaz fight, which had 767,000. The post-fight show had 258,000 viewers, lower than most post-shows, as it started later than normal. It aired from 1:34 a.m. to 3 a.m.