UFC 179 Prelims: TV Ratings

UFC 179’s preliminary coverage on Saturday night was watched by an average of 536,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1.

That’s the second lowest audience for a PPV prelim since the UFC moved it’s coverage to FOX Sports 1 last year, though it’s still 100,000 higher than rock bottom which came just a couple of months ago for UFC 177’s undercard.

The low ratings are perhaps not too surprising when you consider the fight card which lacked star power and led with a welterweight fight between Neil Magny and William Macario.

Magny is actually proving to be a noteworthy prospect who’s impressed by stringing together five victories in a row in 2014, but he’s still flying under the radar for the most part and the UFC needs to start bringing him higher profile fights in order to help raise his profile.

The prelims were also hampered by the fact that they were going up against some stiff sporting competition such as a world Series game and a couple of big college football games.

Despite all that, the UFC 179 prelims still comes in as the fourth most watched program of the week on FOX Sports 1, which perhaps says more about the channels struggle to gain traction in a crowded television market more than anything else.

There was better news from Brazil though where the event was watched by an average of 7.5 million viewers on Globo despite the main event not starting until 2a.m there.

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.