‘COMBATE FEMALE’ RATINGS HIT ALIGNS WITH
THE RECENT, MASSIVE GROWTH OF WOMEN’S SPORTS
AND THE EMERGENCE OF STARS SUCH AS CAITLIN CLARK
SATURDAY’S COMBATE WOMEN’S EVENT ALSO GARNERS MORE VIEWERS THAN OTHER MEN’S SPORTS PROPERTIES, INCLUDING SOCCER ON TNT
MIAMI – COMBATE GLOBAL announced today that its first-ever ‘COMBATE Female’ Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event on Saturday, June 8, garnered more television viewers than both Top Rank Boxing and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which aired live on the same night.
The ‘COMBATE Female’ television show, which garnered 639,000 P2+ viewers on Univision, including 277,000 viewers in the A1849 demographic, also aired on Fuse, which has been the Hispanic sports property’s English-language home in 2024.
The staggering live television viewership of ‘COMBATE Female’ comes at a time when women’s sports – most notably the WNBA and NWSL – are experiencing significant audience growth through new media partnerships and the emergence of star talent, such as Caitlin Clark.
“The inaugural ‘COMBATE Female’ show featured our established and new female athletes, showing the world the power of women’s sports,” said COMBATE GLOBAL CEO Campbell McLaren.
By comparison, Top Rank’s boxing program in the same time slot on Saturday, threw off 572,000 P2+ viewers, including 170,000 viewers in the A1849 category. The boxing fight card’s main event featured a men’s junior middleweight (154 pounds) contest between Puerto Rican star Xander Zayas and Patrick Teixeira. COMBATE GLOBAL’s combined viewership on Univision and Fuse outperformed Top Rank’s lead-in program, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which began at 8:00 p.m. ET, and was headlined by a men’s middleweight (185 pounds) matchup between Jared Cannonier and Nassourdine Imavov.
In addition to other combat sports programming, the COMBATE GLOBAL ‘COMBATE Female’ television show on Univision outrated several live, traditional sports programs on Saturday, including a men’s USA vs. Colombia soccer match, which garnered 611,000 P2+ viewers, including 275,000 A1849 viewers, in a 5:30 p.m. ET time slot on TNT; a National Women’s Soccer League (NSWL) game in a 12:30 p.m. ET time slot on CBS; and a college baseball game on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET.
Saturday’s ‘COMBATE Female’ event was headlined by a strawweight (115 pounds) matchup between undefeated American Melissa “Mamba” Amaya (7-0) and French champion Samantha Jean-Francois (8-8).
In a featured matchup, unbeaten newcomer Regina “Kill Bill” Tarin (3-0) from Mexico City faced off with rival Mexican competitor Fernanda Marrufo (1-2) from Guadalajara.
COMBATE GLOBAL’s next live television event takes place on Saturday, June 22, and will be headlined by a women’s atomweight (105 pounds) affair between Kayla “Kayrock” Hracho (6-4) and France’s Claire Lopez (8-6), live on Univision and Fuse.
Since its inception, COMBATE GLOBAL has continually invested in the growth of its women’s division, which features competitors from eight different countries, and in three different weight divisions.
