Spike TV's two-hour slot of counter-programming for this past weekend's UFC on FX 1 event averaged 699,500 viewers.
A 9 p.m. ET/PT "UFC Unleashed" episode averaged 648,000 viewers, and the 10 p.m. ET/PT one-hour episode averaged 751,000 viewers.
MMAjunkie.com (
UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) today confirmed the ratings information with industry sources.
UFC on FX 1 took place this past Saturday, Jan. 20, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. As MMAjunkie.com reported earlier today, the FX-televised main card averaged 1.3 million viewers, and the prelims on FUEL TV averaged 148,000 viewers.
Overall, the Spike TV counter-programming ran from 7 p.m. to midnight ET. The "UFC Unleashed" episodes heavily featured past bouts with Mevin Guillard, who suffered a submission loss to Jim Miller in the UFC on FX 1 headliner.
Spike TV owns the UFC's library rights through the end of this year, and officials said counter-programming will be the norm throughout the year. "TUF," for example, moves to FX with live Friday-night tournament fights this season, but Spike TV will counter-program with highlights from the past 14 seasons of the long-running reality series.
The UFC recently moved much of its live-event programming from Spike TV to FX and FUEL TV thanks to the seven-year deal with FOX. FX and Spike TV are available in approximately 100 million homes while FUEL TV is in approximately 36 million. By comparison, UFC Fight Night and The Ultimate Fighter Finale events on Spike TV averaged approximately 1.8 million to 2.2 million viewers in recent years.
