UFC South Dakota does worst ratings of 2016

Overkill caught up to the UFC in terms of ratings for their debut show in South Dakota. UFC Fight Night 91 was the promotion’s fourth show in six days, and lacked starpower on the card. So predictably, not many people tuned in to watch it.

According to MMA Fighting, the show did 609,000 viewers. That’s by far the worst number of the year – every other prime time show has done over 750,000 viewers for the main card, and even the two shows that didn’t air in prime time beat this number. Yikes.

Basically it did the same number as the last episode of The Ultimate Fighter to air. That’s not pretty. It was up against the ESPYs though, so that might have had something to do with it.

Even worse was the prelims – they did 331,000 viewers, about half of the prelims average for 2016.

As mentioned, there weren’t a lot of draws on the card. The main event was supposed to see Michael Chiesa taking on Tony Ferguson, but a Chiesa injury bumped Ferguson to the co-main spot against a newcomer, Lando Vannata. The headliner ended up being John Lineker vs. Michael McDonald. Lineker won by first-round KO.