The numbers are in for the FS1 Preliminary Card from UFC 210, and they don’t bode well for how the event did on PPV. Nielsen ratings for the cable portion of the card clocked in at roughly 728,000 viewers, according to TVBytheNumbers/Zap2it. That gave the prelim card a 0.3 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, enough to set the show in the top 25 cable programs Saturday. That, however, is still a decline as far as the UFC’s usual numbers are concerned.
Worse, according to MMAFighting‘s Dave Meltzer, it’s some of the poorest UFC ratings in years, and less than what both UFC 208 and 209 pulled in. And there doesn’t seem to be much of a reason why, aside from viewer disinterest. Bellator ran both Bellator 176 and a kickboxing event Saturday, but both aired on Spike prior to the UFC Prelim card getting underway.
Aside from the Bellator fights, there was little competition in the sports world outside of NHL and college hockey. Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Jason Sosa on HBO also aired Saturday, but well after the UFC prelim card.
In short, the UFC seems to have little to blame beyond UFC 210 being a weak, top-heavy card. Outside of the top two bouts there was little in the way of marquee names at the event, though the fights themselves were a mixed bag, with a couple of standouts.
