UFC On FOX 27 drew just 1,770,000 viewers on Saturday night, leaving it with the dubious distinction of being the least watched event for the promotion on ‘FOX’ since the series began.
Prior to this the low water mark had been 1,983,000 viewers for UFC On FOX 21: Maia Vs Condit back in 2016, while last year’s UFC On FOX 24: Johnson Vs Reis wasn’t far in front with 1,996,000 viewers.
it’s hardly surprising that Saturday night’s offering wasn’t a big hit with fans as it was as underwhelming a line-up as the UFC have ever constructed for a card on the channel.
The main event pairing was fairly solid from a competitive standpoint as Ronaldo Souza took on Derek Brunson, but neither is a proven draw for the company and ‘Jacare’ was coming off a TKO loss.
The rest of the main card looked suspicously like it could have been a prelim line-up though, with Andre Fili Vs Dennis Bermudez taking co-main event duties, while Gregor Gillespie Vs Jordan Rinaldi and Drew Dober Vs Frank Camacho rounded off the four-fight FOX broadcast.
Normally bigger name stars would be occupying most of those slots on the card, so it’s either a case that the UFC were just short on available fighters to fill the line-up, or are simply taking their foot off the accelerator now that their current deal with FOX is about to come to a conclusion later in the year.
It’s also worth noting that Bellator 193 also suffered dismal ratings over on the Paramount (formerly Spike TV) channel on Friday, with only 470,000 viewers tuning in to the event headlined by Lorenz Larkin and Fernando Gonzalez.
