The UFC 230 preliminary viewership numbers have been revealed.
The FS1 broadcast drew an average of 635,000 viewers (via MMAFighting.com). The peak of the viewership occurred with 808,000 viewers during the Jordan Rinaldi vs. Jason Knight featured preliminary bout, which saw Rinaldi take home the unanimous decision, resulting in four consecutive losses for Jason “The Kid” Knight. UFC 230 took place inside the historic Madison Square Garden in New York City.
At the UFC 230 Post-Fight Press Conference, Dana White reported that the event turned in the highest gate of the year outside of UFC 229. However, that success may not transfer into pay per view numbers, as the 635,000 figure makes the UFC 230 prelims the lowest rated FS1 pay per view prelims of the year, with the average being clocked at 835,000.
The good news, however, is that the pay per view generated over 1 million Google searches, which is within the range of Cormier’s other pay per view appearances in 2018: his successful light heavyweight title defense against Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 and his victory over Stipe Miocic at UFC at UFC 226 in July, both of which pulled in approximately 375,000 buys. If UFC 230 matched that figure, it would be the second most purchased pay per view of the year behind the juggernaut that is UFC 229, which is estimated to have done roughly 2.4 million buys.
One detriment to the prelims may have been the college football that was airing concurrently. Alabama vs. LSU in particular pulled in a staggering 11,543,000 viewership on CBS, which was the highest-rated game of the season. Meanwhile on ABC, Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech had 3,135,000 viewers while Notre Dame vs. Northwestern had 3,293,000 viewers.
In addition to the Rinaldi vs. Knight out bout, the prelims also showcased Sijura Eubanks defeating Roxanne Modafferi via unanimous decision, Sheymon Moraes defeating Julio Arce via split decision, and Lyman good knocking out veteran Ben Saunders in the very first round.
What are your thoughts on the UFC 230 FS1 Prelims numbers?
