UFC Denver draws best FS1 Fight Night ratings in almost six months

“The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung’s third strong Fight of the Year contender of his career continued his run as a legitimate television ratings draw.

Jung’s loss to Yair Rodriguez, which headlined Saturday night’s 25th anniversary show in Denver, drew 840,000 viewers. Rodriguez defeated Jung via last-second knockout in what may have been the greatest finish in UFC history. The ratings were the best FOX Sports 1 Fight Night total since the Kamaru Usman vs. Demian Maia fight drew 870,000 viewers on May 19, and they marked the fourth-best Saturday night prime time number so far in 2018.

For comparison, the previous Saturday night show on FS1, headlined by Anthony Smith vs. Volkan Oezdemir, did 531,000 viewers.

The viewership for UFC Denver was strongest in the Males 35-to-49 demographic and men made up about 73 percent of the total viewing audience for the show.

The last time Jung fought in UFC — a February 2017 win over Dennis Bermudez — the show did 1,158,000 viewers, also well above usual levels, although UFC viewership has declined greatly since the early part of 2017.

Jung previously won a number of Fight of the Year honors in 2010 for his fight with Leonard Garcia, and again in 2012 for his fight with Dustin Poirier.

The UFC Denver main card averaged 19,903 streaming viewers.

The televised show on FS1 placed third in its time slot on cable in the 18-49 demo, trailing only college football on ESPN and Live PD on A&E.

The UFC faced competition from college football on ABC, NBC, FOX, ESPN, and ESPN 2, with the Georgia vs. Auburn game being the highest rated with 3,987,000 viewers.

The high point of the UFC Denver broadcast was the Germaine de Randamie vs. Raquel Pennington women’s battle of bantamweight contenders that did 902,000 viewers.

The preliminary card, headlined by Ashley Yoder’s win over Amanda Cooper, averaged 565,000 viewers.

The pre-fight show did 171,000 viewers and the post-fight show did 237,000 viewers.