UFC Fight Night 81 did excellent viewing numbers for Fox Sports 1. The Sunday show, which was the promotion's second title fight on the network (the TUF 20 Finale for women's strawweight gold was on there as well), drew the second-highest rating for any UFC show on FS1. It was only outdone by a card one year ago, with Conor McGregor headlining.
The card, which was strategically placed on the same day as the NFL playoffs, drew an average of 2,280,000 viewers according to MMA Fighting. This isn't close to McGregor's 2,751,000 when he fought Dennis Siver last January, also on an NFL playoff night.