The UFC 253 prelims ended as the lowest rated card of the year for the promotion after being shifted to ESPN2 for the first time in 2020.
According to the Nielsen Ratings System, the UFC 253 prelims, which were headlined by a lightweight between Brad Riddell and Alex da Sliva, averaged 523,000 viewers for the three-hour broadcast that started at 7 p.m. ET.
The preliminary card also featured Ultimate Fighter season 1 champion Diego Sanchez suffer a unanimous decision loss to Jake Matthews.
The prelims pulled in a .