Report: UFC Fight Night Philadelphia Draws Lowest Viewership In ESPN Era
This past Saturday Night, MMA fans were treated to the UFC Fight Night Philadelphia card, which was headlined by Justin Gaethje defeating Edson Barboza by first round knockout.
The show brought in an average of 828,000 viewers according to MMA Fighting, which was the lowest viewership for a Fight Night card airing on ESPN. Other fights on the main card saw Jack Hermansson defeat David Branch, Josh Emmett defeat Michael Johnson, Michelle Waterson defeat Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Paul Craig defeat Kennedy Nzechukwu and Sodiq Yusuff defeat Sheymon Moraes.
It was the main event bout between Gaethje and Barboza that brought in the most viewers, with 1.4 million people checking out that encounter. Competition was tough on Saturday Night, with two NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games bring in 7,000,00+ and 10,000,000+ viewers respectively.
A four fight preliminary card, which also aired live on ESPN with Marina Rodriguez defeating Jessica Aguilar in the featured spot, brought in 480,000 viewers. Other bouts on that portion of the preliminary card saw Desmond Green defeat Ross Pearson, Kevin Aguilar defeat Enrique Barzola and Kevin Holland defeat Gerald Meerschaert.
Bellator MMA also aired an event on Friday Night in the form of Bellator 219, which saw Brandon Girtz defeat Saad Awad by decision in the main event. That show, which aired a four fight main card live on the Paramount Network, brought in 307,000 viewers.
