UFC President Dana White made a revised prediction that episode three of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10, which featured a heavyweight showdown between Roy Nelson and Kimbo Slice, would attract a staggering 6 million viewers on Spike TV.
He was wrong.
The ratings are in, indicating that 6.1 million viewers actually tuned in at peak time to watch the former International Fight League (IFL) champion score a smothering second round technical knockout over the Miami-based bareknuckle brawler. It was the fourth most-watched mixed martial arts bout ever on television in North America.
In fact, Slice now occupies three of the top five slots, including the top position with his win over James Thompson on CBS under the Elite XC banner back in May 2008 (7.281 million viewers). Of course, last night's telecast now "ranks as the most-watched episode of an original series in the six-year history" of Spike TV.
Remarkable.
Overall, episode three of TUF 10 scored a 6.9 in men aged 18 to 34 (2 million), a 5.4 in men aged 18 to 49 (3.1 million), a household rating of 3.7 and 5.3 million total viewers.
To check out our detailed recap of TUF 10 episode three click here.
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