UFC’s latest closed set show from Jacksonville averaged 1.198 million viewers for the three-hour main card on Saturday night.
That almost doubled the previous ESPN Fight Night show in March from Brazil that averaged 672,000 viewers and was headlined by Kevin Lee and Charles Oliveira. That event, however, aired for the most part in the afternoon, so its numbers would be expected to be down.
This time around it was former heavyweight title challenger Alistair Overeem squaring off with Walt Harris, fighting for the first time since the murder of his stepdaughter late last year. Harris’ comeback story was featured on ESPN SportsCenter on Friday night.
The prelims also aired on ESPN and averaged 690,000 viewers, still a good number for that station during the time slot.
In the 18-49 demo, the main card was second for the night with a 0.50 rating, trailing only Live PD on A&E. The prelims were fifth in the demo with a 0.26.
The last ESPN Fight Night to air in prime time, on December 7, was coincidentally also headlined by Overeem. His fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik main evented a show that averaged 1.071 million viewers and did a 0.46 rating, so this event was up 11 percent in viewership and nine percent in the demo from that show.