Saturday night’s UFC on FOX show headlined by Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s first round win over Derek Brunson did 1.59 million viewers based on the overnight ratings.
The number would be the lowest overnight rating in the history of the series as the previous low was the July 22nd show with Chris Weidman vs. Kelvin Gastelum that did 1.64 million viewers.
Making it worse is that the winter number are historically stronger for UFC than the summer numbers.
The number isn’t a surprise, since the show looked to be the weakest UFC on FOX event based on marquee star power, with no names on the undercard having any strong name value.
FOX finished in last place among the networks in total viewers, and even in the 18-49 demo, where the show did a 0.5, it placed third among the four networks.
The Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics game on ABC did a 1.3 in the 18-49 demo and 3.70 million viewers.
The final number, which comes out on Tuesday, will rise based on including the West Coast, which the overnights only measure FOX stations from 8-10 p.m. and the show aired 5-7 p.m. on the West Coast. But the gain will be less than usual since the main event only went one round. For a UFC on FOX special, the highest ratings are traditionally after 10 p.m. and the longer the main event, the better for the final ratings.