While the John Lineker vs. John Dodson main event sounded great to hardcore UFC fans, and delivered in the cage, it wasn't as much a success to the casual viewer.
Saturday's UFC Fight night did 657,000 viewers on FS 1, the lowest for a Saturday night prime time show so far this year.
There were differences from most weeks, including the prelims being on FS 2, and the main card not starting until 11 p.m. ET, which both were going to hurt the numbers. The last few rounds of the main event peaked after 1 a.m. at 831,000 viewers, so even with the late hour, the long main event kept the viewership.
Still, while those changes matter, they don't come close to spelling the difference from the 1,109,000 viewers for the show and 1,326,000 for the main event the previous Saturday for the Cris Cyborg vs. Lina Landsberg-led event. If anything, the numbers only emphasize just how much television interest there was in Cyborg to pull those kind of numbers against football.
The only prime time show this year that did worse was a Wednesday night show on July 13, headlined by Lineker vs. Michael McDonald, which did 609,000 viewers and was the fourth UFC show in eight days.
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Lineker vs. Dodson show does 657,000 viewers
