By most accounts, the UFC on Fox 25 was one of the most entertaining cards the promotion has televised on Fox. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many people watching the fights. If you want to bet on the UFC, check out these MMA odds for the next fight.
According to reports, the UFC on FOX 25 did the lowest overnight ratings the promotion has ever had for a card televised on FOX. The card was headlined by former middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who defeated Kelvin Gastelum via submission to move one step closer to getting a rematch for his belt.
Despite the entertaining fights on the card, the news weren’t good the next day when the ratings for the show were released.
Based on the overnight ratings, the card drew 1.64 million viewers, which was the lowest rating in UFC on FOX history. The previous low for a UFC on FOX event was in April when Demetrious Johnson defeated Wilson Reis to retain his belt. That card drew 1.74 viewers.
The UFC on FOX 25 showed a drastic drop of in viewers compared to last July’s event, when Holly Holm was defeated by Valentina Shevchenko. That fight drew 2.44 million viewers and was the most viewed UFC on FOX card ever.
While the UFC was able to draw viewers in last July, the summer shows have traditionally drawn smaller audiences because the show occur during a time when people are outdoors enjoying themselves. Even regular television programs in the United States go on summer hiatus because they know they won’t draw as many viewers as they would during the other seasons.
Another factor that impacted the viewership of UFC on FOX 25 was the lack of big name headliners. Chris Weidman is a former champ, and is from nearby Long Island, New York, but he also isn’t a very popular fighter.
Weidman’s biggest claim to fame in the UFC is the fact that he beat Anderson Silva twice, ending the former champion’s reign at the top of the UFC. Unfortunately, Weidman didn’t get the hype and respect he would normally have gotten because Silva dominated Weidman in the first fight before getting knocked down because his guard was down when he was taunting Weidman. In the rematch, Silva broke his leg during the fight and fans also didn’t consider the win to be legitimate.
Weidman went on to defend his title twice but lost any momentum he might have had by losing his next three fights.
To make matters worse, Fox had the lowest ratings of the four major networks during the UFC on Fox 25, which means the card got beat by reruns of shows like “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
One small victory for the UFC and FOX is that it came first in the key demo of 18-49 year-olds, doing 0.6 million in the demo overnight.
Despite the low ratings, the UFC will have more shows televised on FOX this year and beyond. However, if they want to get their ratings back up, they have to make the fans interested in watching the fights by having enough big name talent on the show instead of another card with one or two big names and a bunch of unknown fighters.