Sunday’s UFC show, which was headlined by Francis Ngannou vs. Cain Velasquez, did 1,463,000 viewers on ESPN, the best number for a main card cable Fight night in more than three years.
The rating would have been significantly higher had the main event lasted longer than 26 seconds, as that bout started out at 1.7 million viewers and would have grown from there.
The last time a cable fight night beat that number was Jan. 17, 2016. The show was headlined by Dominick Cruz beating T.J. Dillashaw in a five-round fight to win the bantamweight title, averaged 2,280,000 viewers on FS 1.