UFC 70: "Nations Collide" registered a 1.84 television rating with an average of 2.8 million viewers tuning in during the three-hour special on the Spike television network this past Saturday, according FigureFourWeekly.com.
It was the second highest-rated UFC special in history behind the train wreck that was Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock: "The Final Chapter" in October 2006.
(That event drew about 4.2 million on Spike TV and peaked at 5.7 million viewers.)
And, according to NBCSports.com, the tape-delayed broadcast from Manchester, England, attracted more fans in the coveted demographic — males aged 18-34 — than NASCAR (the Subway Fresh 500), the NBA playoffs (aired on ESPN) and FOX baseball (Yankees vs. Red Sox; Cardinals vs. Cubs) that same evening.
During the main event between Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Gabriel Gonzaga, the ratings peaked at 3.5 million viewers, according to the Canadian Press.
Considering that the results were available online hours before the show aired here in the Untied States, the ratings seem solid.
Hopefully — with the success of UFC 70 — the UFC makes good on its recent statements to also air UFC 72 on Spike, which is slated for Belfast, Ireland, on June 16.
However, the firepower on that card is nowhere near "Nations Collide" caliber.
Even still, I'll sure as hell tune in.
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