UFC on FOX 2 prelim ratings: FUEL TV draws 144,000 viewers

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FUEL TV's preliminary-card broadcast for this past weekend's UFC on FOX 2 event drew a 0.35 household rating and an average of 144,000 viewers.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed the ratings information with industry sources.

The ratings were similar to those for this past month's UFC on FX 1 card, in which FUEL TV drew 148,000 viewers for the night's preliminary card.

UFC on FOX 2 took place this past Saturday, Jan. 28, at Chicago's sold-out United Center. In addition to FUEL TV, one preliminary-card bout streamed on Facebook. Meanwhile, the night's heavily promoted main card, which aired on FOX, averaged 4.7 million viewers and now is tied for the second-highest-rated event in UFC history.

FUEL TV's broadcast featured six bouts. Evan Dunham, Mike Russow, Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, Michael Johnson and Lavar Johnson picked up victories during the three-hour broadcast. Four of the six fights ended via stoppage, and all four fight-night bonus winners came from the FUEL TV portion of the card (including Oliveira, who scored a rare calf-slicer submission of Eric Wisely).

The UFC recently moved much of its live-event programming from Spike TV to FX and FUEL TV thanks to its seven-year deal with FOX. Although currently cable TV's lowest-rated cable station (in which ratings information is available), FUEL TV has increased from approximately 30 million homes to 36 million in the past few months due in large part to the new UFC programming, which has set ratings records for the sports-oriented station.

Love me some Fuel