A recent post shared by Craig Jones has drawn attention to a growing controversy surrounding UFC BJJ 3’s reported viewership numbers, which appear to defy statistical reality.
The data, compiled by BJJ Doc, shows the Mikey Musumeci vs. Keven Carrasco match allegedly skyrocketing from 1.9 million to 9 million views in just four days, despite nearly no increase in engagement – a red flag that suggests manipulation or an error in the platform’s reporting.
A 7-Million-View Jump With Barely Any Interaction
Between October 7 and October 11, 2025, UFC BJJ 3’s YouTube view count jumped from 1.9M to 9M. However, during the same span, the video gained only 25 additional comments and about 1,000 new likes. That kind of disparity is virtually impossible under normal viewing patterns, where organic engagement (likes, comments, shares) rises proportionally with views.
VidIQ’s data analysis reinforces the inconsistency.
The engagement rate was recorded at just 0.1%, a shockingly low figure that indicates the vast majority of “views” involved no meaningful user interaction.
Impossible Metrics Compared to Legitimate Events
For comparison, Craig Jones Invitational 2 (CJI 2) – a recent FloGrappling event – generated 1.2 million views, 26,000 likes, and over 1,000 comments, with a 2.1% engagement rate.
Despite having seven times fewer views than UFC BJJ 3, CJI 2 outperformed it by:
- 2.6× more likes
- 4.3× more comments
- 21× higher engagement rate
This stark contrast suggests UFC BJJ 3’s numbers may have been artificially inflated rather than earned through genuine fan interest.
Low Live Viewership Raises More Questions
Another inconsistency lies in the event’s live broadcast performance.
During the stream, only around 30,000 viewerswere watching concurrently – an average turnout for a niche combat sports stream, but nowhere near enough to support 9 million total views days later.
The math doesn’t add up: such limited live engagement could not plausibly snowball into millions of additional plays without widespread social buzz, which was absent.
Patterns of Suspicious Behavior in Past Events
This isn’t the first time the UFC’s BJJ division has faced scrutiny. Previous investigations into UFC BJJ 1 revealed irregularities such as:
- Nearly 19% of comments appearing bot-generated
- Repetitive praise with identical grammar and phrasing
- Comments referencing irrelevant timestamps
- Minimal social media growth for athletes despite “massive” claimed viewership
The repetition of these anomalies across multiple events suggests a systemic issue rather than a one-off error.
Conclusion: The Numbers Don’t Add Up
Taken together, the evidence points toward artificially boosted view counts or serious backend misreporting rather than organic growth.
Engagement collapse, low concurrent viewers, and historical bot-like activity all reinforce that UFC BJJ 3’s supposed 9 million views are almost certainly not genuine.
As BJJ Doc summarized:
Something went wrong in whatever system generates these numbers. Combined with minimal live viewership and non-existent community awareness, the conclusion is clear — these numbers aren’t real.
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