UFC 103 prelim fights attract 1.4 million viewers on Spike TV

by MMAmania.com on Sep 22, 2009 7:03 PM EDT

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For the first time ever, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) aired two live fights from its preliminary card on Spike TV this past weekend (Sat., Sept. 19), leading into the "Franklin vs. Belfort" pay-per-view (PPV) event from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

And if the ratings are any indication, the promotion and the network once again hit it out of the park.

Spike TV today announced that the hour-long, commercial-free broadcast attracted 1.4 million viewers and was the number two rated program among men between the ages of 18 to 34. The heated college football rivalry between Texas and Texas Tech earned the top spot in that time slot.

Overall, the two fights -- Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller and Tomasz Drwal vs. Drew McFedries -- drew a 1.5 rating among men between the ages of 18-34 and a 1.3 rating among men between the ages of 18 to 49, as well as a household rating of 1.0.

Escudero, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 winner, went on to blast Miller in the opening frame en route to his first career knockout and Drwal softened up McFedries to eventually sink in a fight-ending rear naked choke in round two.

For complete UFC 103 results and blow-by-blow coverage of the main card action click here and here.

Check out a video highlight package from "Franklin vs. Belfort" after the jump.

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Comments

what were the ppv ratings for the ufc compared to the mayweather fight?

by sac165 on Sep 22, 2009 10:56 PM EDT reply actions

that takes time

by Fight Club on Sep 23, 2009 8:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Happy that airing the fights on spike was a huge success. HOpefully they start doing this for ever single event!

I dont know how TV works, can someone explain to me what Spike gets out of the deal, if it airs commercial free? does the UFC just pay them more money for the time slot?

by john G on Sep 23, 2009 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions

From what I understand it’s usually one big sponser that pays for it. I didn’t pay attention, but there were probably signs, posters, banners, etc…. all over the place.

by BOW on Sep 23, 2009 12:26 PM EDT reply actions