Saturday’s Ultimate Fight Night from Goiania, Brazil, headlined by Carlos Condit vs. Thiago Alves, averaged 813,000 viewers for the main card from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The number was the best for a Fight Night card since the Feb. 23, headlined by Frank Mir vs. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, did 1,212,000 viewers. From an FS 1 perspective, the show beat the show on the same weekend a year ago, headlined by Mark Munoz vs. Gegard Mousasi, that did 609,000 viewers for the main card, and was up 45 percent from last year in the key 18-49 demo.
The show did 713,000 viewers for the prelims from 8-10 p.m., also the best for a Fight Night show since Feb. 23.
The show peaked at 1,050,000 viewers, during of all things, the Ryan Jimmo vs. Francimar Barroso bout. That period included the unusually long five-minute break in the second round when Jimmo was injured due to a low blow.
Generally a show, even one ending at 1 a.m., will peak for the main event if it’s a fight people are really looking forward to. Jimmo vs. Barroso was the type of match that could lead to people checking out. The show had been lackluster up to that point, and it wasn’t until the last two fights, Condit’s stoppage of Alves at the end of the second round, and Charles Oliveira’s third-round submission win over Nik Lentz, that it turned into a strong show.
The leading sports competition on Saturday night was the College Softball World Series on ESPN, which averaged 1,612,000 from 7 p.m. until 11:20 p.m.
The Ultimate Fighter episode on May 27 did 353,000 viewers that night, and added another 233,000 viewers watching via DVR between Thursday and Saturday.