UFC 234 Prelims Average 1.339 Million Viewers on ESPN
By: Tristen Critchfield Feb 12, 2019
Saturday’s UFC 234 preliminary card drew an average of 1.339
million viewers to ESPN, according to
ShowBuzz Daily.
That’s the highest figure for a UFC pay-per-view preliminary card
since the UFC 207 prelims averaged 1.5 million viewers for the
lead-in to the Amanda
Nunes vs. Ronda
Rousey event. The UFC 234 prelims were likely boosted due to
following the men’s basketball broadcast of Duke vs. Virginia on
ESPN, which averaged 3.3 million viewers. The card drew an overall
market share of 0.82.
The four-bout UFC 234 prelims weren’t high on star power. In the
featured bout, Devonte
Smith stopped Dong Hyun
Ma via technical knockout 3:53 into the opening round of their
lightweight bout. The card’s early prelims streamed on ESPN+.
Despite the promising ratings for the preliminary card, UFC 234
isn’t expected to draw a large number of pay-per-view buys. The
middleweight championship headliner between Robert
Whittaker and Kelvin
Gastelum was canceled on the day of the event when Whittaker
withdrew from the bout to undergo emergency hernia surgery. As a
result, the 185-pound clash between Israel
Adesanya and Anderson
Silva was elevated to the main event.