With the Von Flue!! @AlonzoMenifield
locks in the early sub to close the
#UFC260 prelims! pic.twitter.com/FpFP8NzHVQ— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA)
March 28, 2021
Though the event was headlined by a heavyweight championship bout,
the UFC 260
prelims didn’t do a huge number in the ratings department.
According to
ShowBuzz Daily, the preliminary portion of the card attracted
an average audience of 718,000 to ESPN. That’s the lowest of the
four UFC pay-per-view prelims thus far in 2021, as the other three
— UFC 257 (1.433 million), UFC 258 (794,000) and UFC 259 (1.208
million) — all outdrew Saturday’s offering.
UFC 260 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card
aired on pay-per-view via ESPN+ and saw Francis
Ngannou claim heavyweight gold with a second-round knockout of
Stipe
Miocic in the evening’s main event. The preliminary draw wasn’t
big on star power, but in the featured bout of that portion of the
card, Alonzo
Menifield submitted Fabio
Cherant with the rarely-seen shoulder choke in the opening
round.
The UFC 260 prelims went head-to-head with the NCAA tournament,
which owned the top four rated programs on cable television
Saturday night. The undercard fights were simulcast on ESPN+, but
ratings figures are not released for the streaming platform.