UFC 235 Preliminary Card Averages 1.48 Million Viewers on ESPN

The UFC 235 preliminary card averaged 1.48 million viewers on ESPN, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

That’s the highest ratings for a pay-per-view preliminary card since the UFC 207 prelims averaged 1.5 million viewers on FS1 in on Dec. 30, 2016. The UFC 207 prelims served as a lead-in to a card headlined by former women’s bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey, one of the promotion’s biggest draws at the time.

The UFC 235 preliminary draw was more stacked than usual and featured a pivotal featherweight matchup between Zabit Magomedsharipov and Jeremy Stephens as the featured bout. The four-bout lineup on ESPN also featured rising light heavyweight star Johnny Walker and “The Ultimate Fighter 1” veteran Diego Sanchez, both of whom won their respective fights.

UFC 235 took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday and saw Jon Jones defeat Anthony Smith by unanimous decision to retain his light heavyweight belt in the main event. In the co-headliner, Kamaru Usman overwhelmed Tyron Woodley to capture welterweight gold.