Last weekend’s (Sat., April 20, 2019) UFC St. Petersburg was far from the most anticipated UFC event of the year. The prelim ratings have clearly reflected that.
According to a report from MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer, the UFC St. Petersburg prelims on ESPN 2 earned the company’s lowest ratings numbers in over a year. The three-hour show brought only 232,000 viewers.
A trio of important factors played into the low rating. The first was the event airing on the lower-rated ESPN 2. Its starting time of 10 a.m. EST and 7 a.m. PST also did not help matters. Finally, the overall lack of star power also led to the dismal numbers. Ranked heavyweights Shamil Abdurakhimov and Marcin Tybura did go to battle, but they are hardly household names.
The event was the second early morning card of the year on ESPN. The first was February 23’s UFC Prague. The prelims of that show brought in 271,000 viewers. The event also had no bankable stars on the prelims but benefited from starting one hour later.
Overall, UFC St. Petersburg saw the lowest audience for a live UFC television broadcast dating back to Oct. 28, 2017. Then, a FOX Sports 2-aired UFC Fight Night show from Sao Paulo, Brazil, did a mere 198,000 viewers. Meltzer pointed out that number was so low was because it aired on FS2, By comparison, FOX Sports 2 is only available in about 50 million homes compared upwards of 85 million for more popular ESPN 2.
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