MMA Payout has learned from a Nielsen source that the UFC 181 Prelims on Saturday drew an average viewership of 840,000 viewers. In addition, the UFC 181 Prefight Show drew its best rating ever on FS1 with an average viewership of 606,000 viewers according to Nielsen.

The one hour Prefight show preceded the Prelims. The viewership for the show was likely aided by College Football on FS1 as Oklahoma State defeated Oklahoma in overtime. The game drew 1.146 million viewers. It was the most-watched program on FS1 on Saturday and the 6th most watched game this season. The game served as the lead-in for the Prefight show.

The Prelims were up 8% in the adult 18-49 demo with an average viewership of 545,000. The average for the demo is 503,000 viewers.

Urijah Faber defeated Francisco Rivera in the final bout of the evening on FS1 before the PPV.

UFC PPV Prelims 2014

UFC 169 933,000

UFC 170 936,000

UFC 171 305,000 (FS2)

UFC 172 750,000

UFC 173 697,000

UFC 174 784,000 (FX)

UFC 175 1,000,000

UFC 177 436,000

UFC 178 698,000

UFC 179 536,000

UFC 180 624,000

UFC 181 840,000

Payout Perspective:

A good night for UFC programming on FS1 as many stayed on the network after the football game to watch the Prefight show. A good women’s fight as the opener and Faber on the Prelims helped with the ratings Saturday.