Women’s UFC fights are particularly popular

Back in 2011, UFC president infamously quipped that women would “never” fight in the UFC. He later lauded Ronda Rousey for showing him the error of his ways, and said adding women to the UFC in 2013 was the smartest thing he ever did. By 2015 White declared after a post-fight hospital visit that women are tougher than men.

Yahoo! Sports‘ Kevin Iole recently looked at the numbers for FOX and FS1 and determined that women’s fights are exceptionally popular with UFC fans, and that women-headlined shows are almost always above average in terms of viewership.

Here’s the facts, ma’am:
•Paige VanZant vs. Michelle Waterson on Dec. 17 was the most-watch UFC show on Fox since April 2013, and drew the sixth-largest peak audience at 3,178,000.
•Holly Holm vs. Valentina Shevchenko onJuly 23 card drew the ninth-best on FOX shows at 2,950,000.
•Joanna Jędrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha on July 8 in Las Vegas was the second most-watched TUF Finale on Fox Sports 1.
•The three women-headlined UFC cards on Fox Sports 1 (Jedrzejczy vs. Gadelha II, Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas, Cris ‘Cyborg’ vs. Lina Lansberg) averaged 1,065,000 million, 21% higher than the average of for men-headlined UFC cards on FS1.
•The six women-headlined PPV prelims on FS1 averaged 1,341,000, 42% higher than men-headlined cards.

When a class of athlete does better in the same position, it is because they are being discriminated against. If black athletes do better statistically than white athletes in the MLB, it is not because black athletes are better. It is because black athletes have to be better to get into the MLB. Put another way, white athletes are allowed into the MLB with less skill.

When Jackie Robinson broke the color bar in baseball in 1947, his batting average was .297, 14th in NL. Within two years, he was first. It wasn’t that black baseball players hit better, it was that lesser players were allowed in based on color.

Likewise, if women headlined cards are doing better, it is perhaps not so much that viewers like women fighters more than men. Instead, it appears that the league yet does not fully understand and appreciate the drawing power of women fighters, and is allowing male fighters with less popularity to get main event spots.

Expect Valentina Shevchenko vs. Julianna Pena on Saturday to come close to or even exceed 3,000,000 viewers. Here’s the open workout highlights.

And expect a women’s 125-pound division to debut soon.