UFC 200 this past weekend was a massive event for the promotion, and that was reflected in some big numbers for the preliminary card, which aired on FOX Sports.
An average of 1,786,000 viewers tuned into the action on FOX Sports 1, and that number may have been higher if an MLB game hadn’t required an extra inning, meaning the UFC show didn’t start airing until a half hour after it was already scheduled to.
There was a positive to be had from that however, as it meant that the first prelim between Sage Northcutt and Enrique Marin was broadcast live on FOX Sports 2 instead, and it delivered 582,000 viewers – the highest audience ever on that channel.
Going back to the FS1 viewership, an audience of 1.786 million makes it the third most watched UFC Prelim ever on the channel, behind two other recent blockbuster events, UFC 194, which holds the record with 1.931 million viewers, and UFC 196, which delivered 1.843 million.
For the record, Saturday night’s prelims peaked with 2,046,000 viewers during the ‘headlining’ undercard bout between Julianna Pena and Cat Zingano.
Saturday night’s ratings are a good indicator that UFC 200 is on course to do over a million pay-per-view buys, though it’s still up for debate as to whether it will go on to top UFC 100’s reported 1.6 million PPV buys, or UFC 196’s 1.5 million buys.
