'The Ultimate Fighter: Live' ratings: Episode No. 8 draws series-worst 929K viewers
This past weekend's episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" was the lowest-rated in the series' seven-year history.
Ratings for the eighth episode of "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" resulted in average of just 929,000 viewers on FX, MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with an industry source.
Friday's show, which featured the season's seventh opening-round matchup, was the fourth straight "TUF: Live" episode to draw one million viewers or fewer.
"TUF: Live" features UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and former WEC titleholder Urijah Faber as opposing coaches. Following a two-and-a-half-hour debut episode in which an initial group of 32 was whittled down to 16, the series continues with a fight each week. After pre-taped content, the lightweights-only show concludes with a live fight each week.
In the eighth episode, Team Faber took a 4-3 lead in the opening-round fights after Chris Saunders earned a close split-decision victory over Team Cruz's Sam Sicilia. The episode also featured a guest visit from Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Spike TV began airing "TUF" in early 2005, but as part of the UFC's mega-deal with FOX, the series moved to FX in 2012. Prior to this past weekend's episode, the all-time ratings low was set by this season's fifth episode, which drew 947,000 viewers. During the show's longtime run on Spike TV, "TUF" averaged approximately 1.7 million viewers. (During the latest "TUF: Live" episode, Spike TV countered with an airing of "Coming to America," which averaged 933,000 viewers.)
While UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com FOX and FX executives are satisfied with the ratings, he said changes will be made before "TUF: Live 2" later this year.
The "TUF: Live" episode-by-episode ratings include:
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 1: 1.3 million viewers
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 2: 1.1 million
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 3: 1.2 million
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 4: 1.1 million
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 5: 947,000
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 6: 1 million
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 7: 1 million
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 8: 929,000
