UFC 249 Preliminary Card Averages 1.154 Million Viewers on ESPN

Two gunslingers swinging it out! @ShowtimePettis and @CowboyCerrone giving us a show! #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/viibyoxGFg

— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2020

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The UFC 249 prelims did a solid – though not record breaking -- number on ESPN this past Saturday, bringing an average of 1.154 million viewers to The Worldwide Leader, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

The Las Vegas-based promotion resumed operations for the first time in approximately two months at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday with a pay-per-view card topped by an interim lightweight title clash between Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson.

The prelims featured one of the deeper lineups in recent memory and were headlined by a welterweight rematch between Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone. The preliminary card aired on ESPN from 7 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET and peaked at 1.592 million viewers between 9:45 and 10 p.m. ET.

While the ratings were solid, the average for the entire card ranks behind recent pay-per-view events like UFC 248 (1.195 million), UFC 247 (1.491 million) and UFC 246 (1.767 million). However, in its normal two-hour window, UFC 249 prelims averaged 1.466 million viewers from 8 to 10 p.m. ET.

The UFC 249 prelims simultaneously aired on ESPN+, which normally only airs “early prelims” for a pay-per-view event. According to estimates from the Sports Business Journal, the ESPN+ stream drew an additional 500,000 viewers.