UFC Fight Night 123 drew an average of 870,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 this past Saturday night for a card headlined by a featherweight fight between Brian Ortega and Cub Swanson.
That’s the best numbers for a ‘Fight Night’ show since September and showed an increase of 55,000 viewers compared to the last card on the channel, UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum Vs Tybura, which did 815,000 viewers.
Interestingly, the peak viewership for the show actually came during an early main card fight between Albert Morales and Benito Lopez, which was watched by 1,037,000 viewers, with the late start for the main event likely to have hurt it’s own ratings.
Earlier in the evening, the UFC Fight Night 123 prelims were watched by 707,000 viewers, peaking at 826,000 viewers for the showcase bout between Liz Carmouche and Alexis Davis.
Overall the numbers will have been relatively pleasing for the UFC given that there wasn’t a huge amount of established stars on the show, although Ortega has a chance to break through as somewhat of a draw in the future if he can continue his current winning run.
The UFC was also up against considerable competition on that evening, particularly from what was seen as a must-see boxing fight between boxing stars Vasiliy Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux, which drew a strong 1,730,000 viewers on ESPN.
Bellator 190 failed less well though, with just 394,000 viewers tuning in for their event in Italy, headlined by a middleweight title fight between Rafael Carvalho and Alessio Sakara.
