Last Saturday, the combat sports world was abuzz with two major events: UFC 325 and the highly anticipated Ring VI card. But there was another combat sports event unfolding—WWE Royal Rumble. However, Google Trends data from the night reveals that fan excitement was overwhelmingly centered on the UFC and boxing.

At UFC 325 in Sydney, Diego Lopes fell short in his rematch with Alexander Volkanovski. Meanwhile, across the globe in New York, Shakur Stevenson delivered a dominant performance to outclass Teofimo Lopez at Ring VI. Though separated by continents, fans worldwide were united in the moment, converging online to follow a massive night for combat sports.

UFC 325 tops the charts on Google Trends

According to a tweet from Jed I. Goodman, UFC 325 generated more than one million searches on Google Trends over the past 48 hours. Close behind was Shakur Stevenson and his Ring VI bout, which drew over 500,000 searches. In comparison, WWE’s Royal Rumble, which was held the same night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, managed roughly 200,000 searches and failed to capture broader online momentum.

The reason becomes clear when examining the rest of the top search trends. Royal Rumble-related topics were largely absent. Instead, Jarrell Miller emerged as the next most-searched name with over 50,000 queries, largely due to a viral moment in which his hairpiece flew off during his fight against Kingsley Ibeh at Ring VI.

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Even fighters on the losing end at UFC 325 drew comparable interest. Tai Tuivasa, who dropped a decision to Tallison Teixeira, recorded more than 50,000 searches in the same time frame. Quillan Salkilld, who submitted Jamie Mullarkey in the first round, also crossed the 50,000 mark, as did Benoit Saint-Denis, who defeated Dan Hooker in the UFC 325 co-main event.

WWE’s lone notable presence came via AJ Styles, who surpassed 50,000 searches following his loss to Gunther and, as a result, was forced to retire. Beyond that, Royal Rumble content failed to register meaningfully among top trends, despite two of the promotion’s top wrestlers, Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan, winning their respective Royal Rumble matches.

The numbers paint a clear picture. Over the past 48 hours, fan attention and online discourse were overwhelmingly dominated by boxing and the UFC, leaving WWE trailing well behind.

Sparse Crowd Plagues WWE Royal Rumble in Riyadh

The stadium for Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble was built in just one month. This was the first time the Premium Live Event took place outside of North America, and in terms of scale and production value, it was comparable to any WrestleMania stage the company has produced over the past four decades. Yet as the show began and cameras swept across the venue, fans online were asking one blunt question. Why was it empty?

While the Saudi crowd that did attend was loud and engaged, wide shots revealed large empty sections throughout the arena. Visually, it stood in sharp contrast to recent Royal Rumbles, which have sold out NFL and MLB stadiums for years. Saudi fans took to social media during SmackDown to explain the situation.

They blamed Ticketmaster and what they described as astronomical seating prices for the poor turnout.

While high ticket prices may explain the empty seats in Riyadh, the dismal search traffic suggests a deeper issue for WWE. They failed to resonate with the broader combat sports audience on a night overwhelmingly dominated by the UFC and boxing. What do you think could have been the reason for the poor performance?