This past weekend, MMA fans were treated to the UFC 239 card, which featured a pair of title bouts in the main event spots.
There was a four fight preliminary card that aired live on ESPN prior to the pay-per-view event and that portion of the card brought in an average of 1,145,000 viewers according to MMA Fighting. The Los Angeles and San Francisco markets brought in the highest ratings, while the Philadelphia market brought in the lowest ratings.
The four fights the comprised that portion of the preliminary card saw Arnold Allen defeat Gilbert Melendez, Marlon Vera defeat Nohelin Hernandez, Claudia Gadelha defeat Randa Markos and Yadong Song defeat Alejandro Perez.
It was the featured preliminary card bout between Allen and Melendez that brought in the most viewers, with 1,339,000 people checking out that encounter. There wasn’t a lot of big time opposition for the UFC 239 preliminary card, with an MLB game on Fox being the only sporting event to draw more viewers than the UFC offering.
Up next for the UFC is UFC Fight Night Sacramento on Saturday Night, but the entire card is going to be streaming live on ESPN+. Bellator MMA returns on Friday Night with Bellator 224 on the Paramount Network, which features Julia Budd defending the women’s featherweight title against Olga Rubin in the main event.
