The UFC 166 prelims drew an average of 628,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 this past Saturday night.
That’s down 94,000 viewers from UFC 165’s preliminary coverage and marks it as the lowest rated undercard show of the three aired so far on FS1.
It’s disappointing to continue to see a steady decline in ratings for the UFC on Fox Sports 1, particularly for a card like this where there was actually a fairly strong line-up, with all four televised plreiminary bouts having notable fighters including the likes of Nate Marquardt, Hector Lombard, Tim Boetsch, Sarah Kaufman and KJ Noons.
That’s the kind of line-up that could have served as the main card of a ‘Fight Night’ event, so, given the fact it was also leading into one of the big PPV events of the year, it should have performed better.
Unfortunately, the ratings aren’t going to pick up this coming weekend for UFC Fight Night 30 in the UK as for some reason they’ve had the bright idea to air it live on FOX Sports 2 which is struggling badly in the ratings department.
The show will also air in the afternoon in the U.S so all in all it’s possible we could be looking at an audience in the ballpark of a Fuel TV broadcast, though I’d be more than happy to be proved wrong in that regard.
