TUF Finale averages only 1 million viewers

[Liquidrob]

FLOP on FOX/FX/FUEL continues

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The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale averaged one million FX viewers this past weekend, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with industry sources.

The event, which concluded the latest season of the "TUF" reality series, took place June 1 at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

It was the first season to air on FX following a seven-year, 14-season run on Spike TV.

The five-fight FX main card followed prelims on FUEL TV and Facebook. The FX broadcast averaged a .88 household rating among men 18-34, a .95 among men 18-49, and a .68 among people 18-49.

The figures were similar to the regular-reason run of "TUF," which averaged a little than 1 million viewers per week. The show featured a 32-man lightweight tournament with UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber as coaches. It was the first "TUF" season to feature live elimination fights each week.

In the TUF Live Finale headliner, Martin Kampmann knocked out fellow welterweight contender Jake Ellenberger in the second round. Additionally, Michael Chiesa was crowned the latest "TUF" champion after he submitted fellow lightweight finalist Al Iaquinta in the first round of the night's co-headliner.

The most recent TUF Finale, the TUF 14 Finale, averaged 2.5 million viewers on Spike TV this past December on the strength of a Michael Bisping vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller headliner. A season prior, the TUF 13 Finale averaged 1.8 million viewers. From seasons 10 through 14, the finales averaged 2.2 million viewers.

Of FX's eight UFC broadcasts to date (including UFC on FX shows and "UFC Prelims" specials), the TUF Live Finale ranked seventh.

The all-time UFC-FX ratings include:
UFC 145 ratings (prelims): 1.6 million viewers
UFC 144 ratings (prelims): 1.5 million
UFC on FX 2 ratings (main card): 1.4 million
UFC 143 ratings (prelims): 1.4 million
UFC 146 ratings (prelims): 1.3 million
UFC on FX 1 ratings (main card): 1.3 million
TUF Live Finale ratings (main card): 1.0 million
UFC 142 ratings (prelims): 880,000
The next UFC-FX broadcast takes place next Friday with the UFC on FX 3 main-card special.

[Liquidrob]

What they usually did on Spike

"The most recent TUF Finale, the TUF 14 Finale, averaged 2.5 million viewers on Spike TV this past December on the strength of a Michael Bisping vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller headliner. A season prior, the TUF 13 Finale averaged 1.8 million viewers. From seasons 10 through 14, the finales averaged 2.2 million viewers"

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm surprised they cracked one million. Nobody watched the season and the card was easily the most bland UFC card I can ever remember. Kampmann & Ellenberger are good fighters, but have no juice, and once again the enormous amount of shows led to two guys main eventing who really have no business headlining (hi, Dustin Portier!). The rest of the show was TUF geeks and former TUF geeks. This show had less star power than a run of the mill Bellator show.

This was the first UFC show where when I sat down to watch it on the DVR, I fast forwarded directly to the main event.