MMA has a new most-watched fight in U.S. television history.
This past weekend's UFC on FOX headliner between Cain Velasquez and new champ Junior Dos Santos peaked with a solid 8.8 million viewers on the FOX network, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with industry sources.
Within three minutes of the bout's conclusion, the audience dwindled to 5.9 million viewers. Overall, the event averaged 5.7 million viewers.
UFC on FOX took place this past Saturday, Nov. 12, at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. While the UFC's landmark seven-year deal with FOX doesn't begin officially until 2012, the Nov. 12 event served as a "teaser" show. Only the main event aired on the one-hour FOX broadcast, and the entire undercard streamed on Facebook and FOXSports.com.
Initial estimates put the average UFC on FOX audience at 4.64 million viewers and then 5.7 million viewers. The 5.7 average audience help up in the final ratings.
The title fight's quick conclusion (Dos Santos knocked out Velasquez in just 64 seconds) obviously affected the overall average.
The event also scored a 4.0 household rating among men 18-49 and 4.3 among men 18-34.
In its counter-programming efforts, Spike TV averaged a respectable 719,000 viewers for a 9 p.m. ET "UFC Unleashed" episode that featured past Velasquez and Dos Santos fights. Additionally, an 8 p.m. ET episode averaged 923,000, and a 10 p.m. ET version averaged 787,000 viewers.
In addition to breaking the UFC record, the UFC on FOX event also set a record for the highest-rated MMA event on U.S. network television. That record previously was held by 2008's "EliteXC: Primetime" event, which scored 4.3 million viewers (and peaked with 6.5 million for a Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. James Thompson headliner) on CBS.
Spike TV previously held the UFC record for the highest-rated fight. The cable station set that record in 2009 when episode No. 3 of "The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights" (which featured a pre-taped fight between "Kimbo" and Roy Nelson) drew 5.3 million viewers and a peak of 6.1 million. The previous high was set in 2007 when 5.9 million viewers tuned in for Spike TV's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Dan Henderson UFC 75 main-event bout. (Overall, UFC 75 averaged 4.7 million viewers.)
Source: UFC on FOX peaks with 8.8 million viewers for Velasquez-Dos Santos title fight
