The UFC 238 Prelims drew 964,000 viewers on ESPN Saturday night per Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily. It was the best rating for a PPV Prelims since UFC 235.

The PPV prelims aired on ESPN prior to the UFC 238 Prelims on ESPN +. The feature bout of the prelims saw Tatiana Suarez defeat Nina Ansaroff in a competitive fight between strawweights. Also, Aljamain Sterling defeated Pedro Munhoz in a bantamweight contender matchup.

The event drew 489,000 viewers in the A18-49 demo and a 0.63 share.

UFC PPV Prelims ratings 2019

UFC 234: 1.339M

UFC 235: 1.480M

UFC 236: 893,000

UFC 237: 813,000

UFC 238: 964,000

The prelims actually served as a lead-in to Top Rank Boxing on ESPN. It’s the second straight PPV that the prelims have led to boxing on the network.

Payout Perspective:

The ratings reflect a nice uptick in viewership which may mean more PPV purchases. This time around the prelims seemed stacked more competitive fights and fighters the casual fan may know. This is also another evening where ESPN dedicated to combat sports which is interesting to see.