UFC 191 prelim ratings lowest of 2015

The ratings for Saturday’s UFC prelims on FOX Sports 1 confirmed much of what had been written all week.

Demetrious Johnson is a great fighter, but people don’t stay home on a Saturday night to watch him.

The prelims leading into UFC 191, airing from 8-10 p.m. Eastern time,drew 663,000 viewers on FS 1. It was the lowest number so far this year for FS1 prelims for a pay-per-view fight. Only three prime time prelims on Fight Night shows this year have fallen below that number.

That number is 35 percent below the 1,014,000 average for FS 1 prelims before a pay-per-view event in 2015. Worse, it was lower than previous prelims of Johnson headlined shows, as the prelims before UFC 174 (Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov) did 784,000 viewers; UFC 178 (Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso) did 698,000 and UFC 186 (Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi) did 710,000. The UFC 186 prelims were the lowest so far this year, preceding UFC’s lowest drawing pay-per-view of 2015 prior to Saturday.

Labor Day weekend didn’t help. There was also other key sports competition, the most notable being Arizona State vs. Texas A&M college football on ESPN (2.47 million viewers) and the U.S. Open tennis on ESPN2 (1.02 million viewers).

Saturday’s peak was 807,000 viewers during the latter stages of the Ross Pearson vs. Paul Felder television main event.

The pre-fight show airing from 7-8 p.m. on FS 1 did 291,000 viewers.

The post-fight show, on FS2, did 42,000 viewers at 1 a.m., and did another 155,000 viewers when aired in a replay slot at 2:30 a.m. on FS1.

Friday’s weigh-ins on FS2 did 54,000 viewers.

All ratings are courtesy of Neilsen.

The ratings for Saturday’s UFC prelims on FOX Sports 1 confirmed much of what had been written all week.

Demetrious Johnson is a great fighter, but people don’t stay home on a Saturday night to watch him.

The prelims leading into UFC 191, airing from 8-10 p.m. Eastern time,drew 663,000 viewers on FS 1. It was the lowest number so far this year for FS1 prelims for a pay-per-view fight. Only three prime time prelims on Fight Night shows this year have fallen below that number.

That number is 35 percent below the 1,014,000 average for FS 1 prelims before a pay-per-view event in 2015. Worse, it was lower than previous prelims of Johnson headlined shows, as the prelims before UFC 174 (Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov) did 784,000 viewers; UFC 178 (Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso) did 698,000 and UFC 186 (Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi) did 710,000. The UFC 186 prelims were the lowest so far this year, preceding UFC’s lowest drawing pay-per-view of 2015 prior to Saturday.

Labor Day weekend didn’t help. There was also other key sports competition, the most notable being Arizona State vs. Texas A&M college football on ESPN (2.47 million viewers) and the U.S. Open tennis on ESPN2 (1.02 million viewers).

Saturday’s peak was 807,000 viewers during the latter stages of the Ross Pearson vs. Paul Felder television main event.

The pre-fight show airing from 7-8 p.m. on FS 1 did 291,000 viewers.

The post-fight show, on FS2, did 42,000 viewers at 1 a.m., and did another 155,000 viewers when aired in a replay slot at 2:30 a.m. on FS1.

Friday’s weigh-ins on FS2 did 54,000 viewers.

All ratings are courtesy of Neilsen.