After two straight monster numbers in January for Conor McGregor vs. Dennis Siver and Dominick Cruz vs. T.J. Dillashaw, Sunday's first UFC event of the year did closer to usual numbers.
The Fight Night from Phoenix, which went head-to-head with the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers NFL playoff game, did 1,090,000 viewers. The football game did 37,113,000 viewers, and hit the same male sports fan demo that the UFC hits, so likely took a major chunk out of the viewership. While the show did 10 percent above the 2016 year average, the similar January shows promoted during FOX's NFL broadcast in the afternoon both topped 2 million viewers.