UFC On FOX 21 was watched by an average of just 1,983,000 viewers on Saturday night, for a 1.2 rating in adult 18-49 and an overall 2 share.
Unfortunately, that’s a new record low for the series on FOX, with the previous bottom of the barrel rating being UFC On FOX 8: Johnson Vs Moraga, which did 2,380,000 viewers back in July of 2013.
So, why the low number then? The most significant factor was that there was NFL preseason games running that night, meaning that in some markets the UFC coverage was either aired on tape-delay, or was moved to a different channel.
With that in mind it’s likely that next year ‘UFC On FOX’ will avoid this August spot in the schedule and retreat back to more familiar territory in July.
Saturday’s show actually peaked during the co-main event of the evening between Anthony Pettis and Charles Oliveira, which drew 2,207,000 viewers.
That doesn’t mean people weren’t interested in the main event between Demian Maia and Carlos Condit, it’s just that the fight was over so quickly that it didn’t go past the 10pm ET mark, which would generally have led to higher ratings.
So, there’s no real reason to ring the alarm bells here as it was really just circumstances largely beyond the UFC’s control that led to this weekend’s disappointing ratings.
