UFC on Fox 31 Averages 1.828 Million Viewers in Final Ratings, Lower Than Fast Nationals

The overnight ratings for UFC on Fox 31 turned out to be a bit of a tease, as the final ratings for this past Saturday’s event fell closer to the promotion’s average on Fox Network for 2018.

According to ShowBuzz Daily, UFC on Fox 31 averaged 1.828 million viewers overall. That’s down from the fast national average of 2.153 million viewers that was released over the weekend. That initial figure was the highest for a UFC on Fox show in two years. The early numbers were skewed because they did not include viewership on the West Coast, nor did it include the portion of the main event that aired after 10 p.m. ET; in most cases those serve to boost the final numbers.

In the end, the final ratings for UFC on Fox 31 were closer to the yearly average. Ratings for Fox cards on the network this past year were as follows: UFC on Fox 30 (1.678 million), UFC on Fox 29 (2.02 million), UFC on Fox 28 (2.037 million) and UFC on Fox 27 (1.770 million).

UFC on Fox 31 took place at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., and saw Al Iaquinta take a unanimous decision over Kevin Lee in the evening’s headliner. In the co-main event, Edson Barboza earned a third-round TKO against Dan Hooker in an action-packed affair. The main draw also saw Rob Font outpoint Sergio Pettis at bantamweight and Charles Oliveira score a first-round submission against Jim Miller.

The main event peaked with 2.402 million viewers for the championship rounds of Iaquinta vs. Lee. Meanwhile, the UFC on Fox 31 prelims, which aired on FS1, averaged 256,000 viewers. That portion of the card featured a welterweight clash pitting Dwight Grant against Zak Ottow.