This past weekend, MMA fans were treated to the UFC 234 pay-per-view, which was headlined by Israel Adesanya defeating former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva by unanimous decision.
A four fight preliminary card also aired live on ESPN, with Devonte Smith defeating Dong Hyun Ma in the featured spot, which brought in an average of 1,339,000 viewers according to MMA Fighting. Other fights on that portion of the preliminary card saw Shane Young defeat Austin Arnett, Kai Kara-France defeat Raulian Paiva and Kyung Ho Kang defeat Teruto Ishihara.
It was the Kang versus Ishihara fight that brought in the most viewers, with 2.3 million people checking out that encounter. A major factor as to why that fight brought in such high viewership was that the lead in to the UFC card was an NCAA Basketball Game between Duke and Virginia, which brought in over three million viewers.
The UFC 234 preliminary card was the third most watched sporting event on Saturday Night, being defeated by an AAF football game on CBS and a Houston Rockets versus Oklahoma City Thunder NBA game on NBC.
Up next for the UFC is UFC Fight Night Phoenix on ESPN, which features Francis Ngannou battling former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez in the main event.
