UFC Vegas 26 on Saturday night which saw Marina Rodriguez face Michelle Waterson up a weight class on short notice.
Although the card didn’t have a main event until a week before, the UFC drew in great ratings for the event. UFC Vegas 26 averaged 741,000 viewers during the broadcast, which kicked off just past 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The card earned a .23 rating in the coveted 18-49 year old demographic, which earned the event number one for the night.
The overall ratings for the ESPN card this year are as follows:
UFC on ESPN 20 — 244K (Wednesday 12pm)
UFC on ESPN 21 — 721K (Saturday, 10pm )
UFC on ESPN 22 — 953K (Saturday, 10pm)
UFC on ESPN 23 — 538K (Saturday, 10pm on ESPN2)
UFC on ESPN 24 — 741K (Saturday, 8pm on ESPN)
In the main event of the card, Marina Rodriguez earned a decision win over Michelle Waterson in a very entertaining fight. Both women had moments in the fight but it was the Brazilian who got the decision win in the main event of UFC Vegas 26.
UFC Vegas 26 also saw Alex Morono score a first-round TKO win over Donald Cerrone in the co-main event. The event was a good one with Neil Magny earning a decision win over Geoff Neal and Gregor Gillespie TKO’ing Diego Ferreira on the main card as well.
PFL 3, meanwhile, also drew in solid ratings as the card was also the first to ever air exclusively on ESPN with typical broadcasts taking place on ESPN2. The event had 324,000 average viewers for the show that started at 7 p.m. ET. That was good enough for a .09 rating in the 18-49 year old demographic, which put the event at No. 73 for Thursday programming on cable.
The next PFL event airs live on June 10 which sees Claressa Shields make her MMA debut. The UFC, meanwhile, returns this weekend for UFC 262.
What do you make of the UFC Vegas 26 ratings?
