It wasn’t the promotion’s most star-studded card to date, but UFC
on ESPN 18 still drew solid ratings.
According to
Showbuzz Daily, UFC on ESPN 18 averaged 1.055 million viewers
during the two-hour broadcast on ESPN. The event aired on the
network following the conclusion of a college football game between
Texas A&M and LSU. UFC on ESPN 18 averaged 245,000 viewers
during the earlier portion of the card that was broadcast on
ESPN2.
That initial figure ranks as the fourth-highest rating for a UFC on
ESPN card in 2020. The highest rated event this year remains UFC on
ESPN 8, which averaged 1.198 million viewers for a card headlined
by a heavyweight clash between Alistair
Overeem and Walt Harris
on May 16. The numbers are even more impressive considering UFC on
ESPN 18 was going head to head with the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones
Jr. pay-per-view, which reportedly drew more than 1 million
buys.
UFC on ESPN 18 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw
Anthony
Smith submit Devin Clark
in the opening stanza of the evening’s light heavyweight headliner.
The original main event of Curtis
Blaydes vs. Derrick
Lewis was scrapped one day prior to the event when Blaydes
tested positive for COVID-19.