This fight was likely so high in attendance because of the dedicated fanbases of Australians (for Whittaker) and New Zealanders (for Adesanya). For Polish fans, there were the likes of Jan Blachowicz and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who were at the top of their fight game. In terms of sponsorship revenue, the NFL averages more, but by how much is difficult to determine since the UFC is a private company, and their financial information is somewhat guarded.. UFC ended the year with half of what ONE achieved, earning 6.1 thousand average engagements per post, while Bellator MMA recorded 1.4 thousand according to the Average Facebook engagements per post 2021 chart. (For more details on the players respectful protest, please read our extensive article explaining the NFL kneeling controversy.). As with the other five American sports leagues weve compared to the NFL (NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and NASCAR), UFC just cant measure up to the financial and popular success of professional football. Only 187 fighters in the UFC are currently earning six-figure salaries. Please enter a valid email and try again. The early PPV numbers are in for UFC 230 earlier this month in New York City, which was headlined by a heavyweight title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and knockout artist Derrick Lewis. Buys for pay-per-view shows by the UFC have grown considerably since its origins in the 90s. While the average viewers fell short of four previous UFC on ESPN events, the broadcast performed well for a Friday night UFC broadcast. They helped to bring those eyes to the UFC. The NFL is the most-watched and most lucrative professional sport in the U.S. with at least six other major sports barking at its heels. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Midnight Mania! This text provides general information. The UFC can bring in millions of PPV buys on some of its top events through great global live streaming efforts. On secondary ticket providers like StubHub, Ticketmaster, TickPick and Vivid Seats, the typical cost of a Super Bowl LIII ticket was well above $5,000. Cub Swanson enters his co-main event against Giga Chikadze on a two-fight win streak after having lost his previous four fights. Between 2014 and 2016, the interest in the UFC grew by 6.3% in Russia, 5% in Spain, and 4.5% in Poland. "Level of Interest in Ufc in The United States as of September 2021. In cumulative reach on global broadcast television last year, ONE ranked #4 behind the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (#1), UEFA EURO 2020 (#2), and UCL (#3), but ahead of F1 (#5), NFL (#7), NBA (#8), and UFC (#9). From 6-10 p.m. But with the NFL doing its best to fix its own problems like blown referee calls and excessive head injuries that lead to brain damage by listening to critics and adjusting its rules and replay protocol, the league has continued to adapt and adopt to all challenges. Nevertheless, NFL viewership numbers obliterate UFCs in every category. And same with Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, who signed a four-year contract worth $32.68 million (with a signing bonus of $21.85 million). While the UFC generates most of its revenue from Pay-Per-View buys on UFC fight nights and events, they are still producing a sports performance in a stadium almost every weekend. Currently, the average NFL team is valued at $2.5 billion and according to Forbes Magazine thats up 8% over last year, and more importantly, all but five of the NFL franchises are worth at least $2 billion. 117656-1, If you no longer want to UFC on FOX final show will likely continue the promotions trend of awful ratings, which started at 5.7 million in 2012 and ended at 1.4 million for its most recent show in 2018. UFC ratings for the ESPN "Prelims" card called "disappointing" for UFC 241: "Cormier vs. Miocic 2" last weekend in Anaheim. UFC on FOX ratings were the best in two years for the "Lee vs. Iaquinta" fight card last Sat. Reyes has won nine fights by stoppage, including four out of six UFC bouts. For the twelfth year in a row, the NFLs most valuable team and the worlds most valuable franchise is the Dallas Cowboys, who are worth $5 billion, and thats up 4% from 2018. Written by Joe Bloom Published on February 24, 2023April 21, 2022 Updated on February 24, 2023. 1? "Level of interest in UFC in the United States as of September 2021." He has . Overview and forecasts on trending topics, Industry and market insights and forecasts, Key figures and rankings about companies and products, Consumer and brand insights and preferences in various industries, Detailed information about political and social topics, All key figures about countries and regions, Market forecast and expert KPIs for 600+ segments in 150+ countries, Insights on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide, Business information on 60m+ public and private companies, Detailed information for 35,000+ online stores and marketplaces. We support responsible gambling. That means that the UFC can promote events and collect new fans 365 days a year instead of from September through February like with the NFL, and in the long run that could help the newer sport catch up. 22: UFC fights for Lewis. UFC on ESPN+ 1 helped the digital streaming service land 568,000 new subscribers as well as a 1.4 rating on ESPN for Cejudo vs. Dillashaw" in Brooklyn. 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, WV), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-522-4700 (NV), 1-800-522-4700 The UFC is done using the pay-per-view structure, so there are no paid advertisements during the fight. Ian Garry (10-0) continues his quest for superstardom on another pay-per-view card. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American organization of mixed martial arts (MMA). Get UFC 285 results for the Jones vs. Gane event Saturday night in Las Vegas. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. How Many MMA Fans Are There In The World? You can also find Fightful's constantly updated injury report at this link and of wrestling contract expiration dates at this link. ET ended up with 951,000 viewers on average with a .36 rating in the coveted 18-49 year old demographic, which was tops for all programming on Saturday. That event holds the record for the most significant Pay-Per-View buys (2.4 million buys). Published by Statista Research Department , Aug 29, 2019 Key insights UFC total. The live attendance reached 57,127 and was held at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The final UFC on FOX card in 2018 averaged 1.8 million viewers and peaked at 2.4 million. The 2021 report by Nielsen showed that ONEs video views have doubled in just 12 months. Now Fridays are typically a bad night for ratings on television in general but the PFL saw similar returns to these averages when promoting cards on Thursday nights during the previous season in 2019. In 2016, Nielson reported these countries in their World Sports Review: Surprisingly, its not just the USA that loves mixed martial arts. If youre in a hurry, heres the bottom line about UFC viewership statistics in recent years: The Ultimate Fighting Championship generated an average of 447,000 pay-per-view buys in 2018, a 31.47% increase from 340,000 buys in 2017. Conor McGregor Reacts To Horrific Broken Ankle, Pic! UFC Fight Night 135 ratings for the "Gaethje vs. Vick" mixed martial arts (MMA) event on FOX Sports 1 last Saturday night (Aug. 26, 2018) in Lincoln, Nebraska. 1 rated program on cable on Saturday night. There are many common questions about the UFC buys, viewer stats, and popularity in the sports world. UFC Fight Night 128 ratings and viewers for the "Barboza vs. Lee" mixed martial arts (MMA) event on FOX Sports 1 last Saturday night (April 21, 2018) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The drastic growth of the company catapulted the UFC among the most valuable sports business brands worldwide. By far, professional football is America's favorite sport. UFC on ESPN 1 which featured a heavyweight fight between Francis Ngannou and Cain Velasquez did big ratings Sunday night (Feb. 17, 2019) for "The Worldwide Leader In Sports.". According to statistics from Team Marketing Report, the average cost of an NFL ticket was $92.98 last year, which was up 8.3 percent from the previous season. There are so many differences between the NFL and the UFC that it doesnt seem fair to compare the two on any level, but we will do our best to point out whenever a particular comparison does not apply or if certain data is not available. Deepak Kumar is a UFC author at EssentiallySports. Currently, you are using a shared account. newsletter, Pavlovich Boots Beast From Heavyweight Top 5, UFC 248 Prelims Tops One Million Viewers, ESPN Returns Disappointing Ratings For UFC 241. The UFC also represents female fighters well, with womens UFC weight classes putting on many great fights. The UFC also has big fanbases in other countries like Russia, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Australia, Mexico, and China. Seven of those were held thus far in 2020, with four of them. As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail. Those outliers usually involve Conor McGregor. Entering into the noughties meant significant strides for the brand to produce even more excitement and viewership as time passed. The prelims for the four pandemic-era PPVs (May 9, June 6, July 12, Aug. 15) averaged 1.173 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN+, up 30% from the PPV "preliminary card average" in '19. That is the concern for boxing as it competes with Dana Whites mixed-martial-arts monster for relevance and popularity: it isnt just that the numbers are tilting in the upstarts favour, it is that they appear to have more name value with which to sustain the growth, and younger stars too. But Khabib wasnt the only Russian fighter making a name and bringing in more Russian fans during that time. The UFC has produced 19 pay-per-view fight cards during its relationship with ESPN, which began 20 months ago in January 2019. UFC Fight Night 129 ratings for the Demian Maia vs. Kamaru Usman-Led mixed martial arts (MMA) event on FOX Sports 1 last Sat. For example, last year the New York Giants signed running back Saquon Barkley to a deal worth $31.2 million (with a signing bonus of $20.77 million). Be the first to rate this post. The Brazilians have had a keen interest in mixed martial arts since the birth of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as many grapplers often dabble in other striking sports to add to their experiences like Boxing or Muay Thai. Chart. F1 and IndyCar start their seasons, the Rams partner with KAGR and Athletes Unlimited celebrates its anniversary with an expanded Nike partnership. While boxing insiders fret over where their next landscape changer will surface from, UFC is enjoying the most successful spell of its existence, pulling in over a million views five times in 2016 alone, an incredible rise for a company averaging around the 50,000 mark 15 years ago. There really is no Super Bowl level fight in the UFC, but if you look at the McGregor vs. Mayweather fight that took place in 2017, it did come close at just under $600 million total revenue. Comparisons between the two sports are inevitable in the run-up to the Las Vegas showdown, which looks set to break all records in terms of pay-per-view revenues and both fighters reported to be receiving nine-figure purses. American-based MMA promotion UFC ranked #5 on the list with 6.6 billion views, while fellow mixed martial arts promotion Bellator MMA ended its year with 227 million views. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. The biggest growth markets for the UFC up to 2016 were Russia, Spain, and Poland. UFC 237 Prelims Ratings Hit New Low On ESPN, Ngannou vs Velasquez Does Big Ratings For ESPN, UFC Brooklyn Leads To Record-Setting Night On ESPN+, UFC 231 Prelims Return Above-Average Ratings, UFC Argentina Prelims Ratings Top Main Card Numbers, UFC Ratings Resurrected By Korean Zombie. arrow_drop_up 841. The UFC has various training camps and has over 500 fighters currently signed to UFC contracts, but none of these camps makes the kind of revenue a single NFL franchise can bring in per year.