The ratings are in for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 26 Finale … and they aren’t good.
The women’s championship flyweight main event between Roxanne Modafferi and Nicco Montano, which lasted all five rounds, returned 501,000 viewers, the lowest rated primetime live UFC show ever on FOX Sports 1.
By more than 100,000 viewers.
That’s according to a report from MMA Fighting, which also had some bad news for the Bellator boys and girls. Their Spike TV special managed just 439,000 viewers, the promotion’s third lowest primetime offering since joining Viacom.
Probably not going to help these negotiations.
It should be noted that not only did both telecasts air last Friday night (Dec. 1, 2017), as opposed to the more traditional Saturday, neither fight card had a bona fide star to anchor the show and featured female fighters in the main event.
It will be interesting to see if UFC and Bellator can bounce back when they return to Saturday night on Dec. 8. The former will uncork UFC Fight Night 123: “Swanson vs. Ortega” from Fresno, Calif., while the latter is airing Bellator 190: “Carvalho vs. Sakara” from Florence, Italy.
Stay tuned.