UFC 243 Prelims Average 559,000 Viewers On ESPN2

The UFC 243 prelims were hit hard by steep October sports competition and the viewership numbers prove it.

This past Saturday night (Oct. 5), UFC 243 took place inside Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Headlining the pay-per-view was a middleweight title unification bout between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. Adesanya was the interim title holder going into the matchup. “The Last Stylebender” left no doubt as to who the true middleweight ruler is, starching Robert Whittaker via second-round TKO.

The UFC 243 prelims brought in an average of 559,000 viewers on ESPN2. The UFC 243 prelims didn’t feature major names. Perhaps the two more well-known fighters featured on that portion of the card were Megan Anderson and Jake Matthews, both scored victories. The prelims peaked at 693,000 viewers for Callan Potter vs. Maki Pitolo.

The prelims fell short against other heavy hitters in the time slot. This includes the Michigan State vs. Ohio State college football game on ABC (6,677,000 viewers); Georgia vs. Tennessee on ESPN (3,901,000 viewers); Cal vs. Oregon (2,002,000 viewers); an MLB playoff game between the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Devil Rays on FS1 (2,530,000 viewers); and a preseason NBA game on TNT featuring the Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers (1,171,000 viewers).

MMA News provided coverage of UFC 243. Peep the homepage for results, highlights, and all the post-fight goodness.