UFC on FOX 21 Delivers Record Low Ratings

Charles Oliveira and Anthony Pettis

While UFC on FOX 21 had some great action, the event did not draw in the ratings. The weigh-ins did 74,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1 on Friday night. The prelims did 1,122,000 and the main card drew 1,983,000 viewers, which is a record low for UFC events on big FOX. The post-fight show on FS1 averaged 222,000 viewers.

UFC on FOX 21 took place on Saturday, August 27th, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The early prelims aired on UFC Fight Pass at 4 p.m. ET while the other prelims aired on FOX at 6 p.m. ET. The four-bout main card aired on FOX at 8 p.m. ET.

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The main event of this event was a welterweight clash between Carlos Condit and Demian Maia while the co-main event was a featherweight bout between Charles Oliveira and Anthony Pettis. Rounding out the card was Bec Rawlings vs. Paige VanZant in a women’s strawweight bout and Joe Lauzon vs. Jim Miller in a lightweight bout.

The previous low for UFC events on big FOX was 2.04 million viewers on July 27, 2013, an event headlined by a Demetrious Johnson‘s flyweight title bout with John Moraga. To the UFC’s credit, they went up against stiff competition (NFL Pre-Season games).

The UFC returns to this weekend but not on network TV as UFC Fight Night 93 will air on the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.