According to Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), UFC 196; which aired March 5, drew a peak audience of 188,000 on BT Sport 2.
The event was headlined by UFC Bantamweight title fight: Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate and 170lbs main event, UFC Featherweight champion Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz.
It was deemed as one of the most shocking night’s in promotional history, with Tate scoring a late fifth round submission over champion Holm, as well as underdog Diaz who rocked the world with his second round stoppage of ‘Notorious’ McGregor.
With rumours circulating that BT Sport will not likely renew their current deal with the UFC, these numbers may make them reconsider, drawing some of the biggest figures the UFC have ever drawn on the UK sport’s subscription channel.
UFC 196 viewership breakdown:
1 UFC (SUN 0600) 188,000
2 UFC (SAT 2700) 133,000
3 UFC (SAT 2500) 72,000
4 UFC (SAT 2445) 55,000
It also was reported by the UFC that the pay-per-view was trending as the biggest show in UFC history at around 1.5m buys, just short of the UFC 100 record of 1.6m.
For the week ending March 6, out of the top 10 programmes on BT Sport 2, the UFC dominated nine of those slots.
