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The UFC's Sunday show, starring Francis Ngannou and Cain Velasquez, has been seen by 1,463,000 viewers on ESPN, the best number for a cable fight night on the main card for more than three years.
The score would have been significantly higher if the main event had lasted more than 26 seconds, since the fight had begun with 1.7 million viewers and it would have developed from there.
The last time a cable fighting night beat that number was on Jan. 17, 2016. The show was hosted by Dominick Cruz defeating TJ Dillashaw in a five-round bout to win the bantamweight title, drew in average 2,280,000 viewers on FS 1.
The number was lower than the preliminaries did on Jan. 19, ESPN's debut for UFC. This show drew 1,956,000 viewers for the preliminary matches before Dillashaw vs. Henry Cejudo which aired on ESPN +.
Sunday's preliminary matches, marked by Aljamain Sterling's victory over Jimmie Rivera, averaged 988,000 viewers.
ESPN beat the 18- to 49-year-old TV Demo in the 21 hours, with the exception of TNT coverage of the NBA All-Star Game from 9 pm to 10 pm time of FOX and CBS, and Walking Dead on AMC.
The All-Star Game was Sunday's main sporting competition, with 6,797,000 spectators between TNT and TBS. The only other sporting event of the evening, AAF football on the NFL network, attracted 425,000 viewers.
He also beat Saturday boxing on FOX, starring Leo Santa Cruz who defended the WBA super-featherweight title against Rafael Rivera, which drew 1,376,000 viewers.
On Friday night, the Bellator show at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, featuring an immediate ban between heavyweights Matt Mitrione and Sergei Kharitonov, attracted 365,000 viewers that night and another 100,000 by DVR at during the night.
Between the live audience and the DVR audience, the audience record with Austin Vanderford vs. Cody Jones was reached with 723,000 viewers.
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