UFC on FX2 ratings

This past weekend's four-fight UFC on FX 2 event, which was the second UFC main card to air on the FOX-owned FX, averaged 1.4 million viewers.

Additionally, the night's six-bout preliminary card averaged 113,000 viewers on FUEL TV.

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

UFC on FX 2 took place March 3 at Syndey's Allphones Arena. Martin Kampmann submitted fellow welterweight contender Thiago Alves in come-from-behind fashion in the night's main event. The UFC also debuted its brand new flyweight divisions on the Saturday-morning show, which aired live in the U.S. on Friday night due to the time change.

The two-hour main card, which boasted four fights on FX, earned a slight increase of 100,000 viewers over the 1.3 million that tuned in for January's UFC on FX 1 event.

The three-hour preliminary card, which featured James Te Huna earning a brutal first-round TKO of Aaron Rosa, featured six bouts and saw a slight decrease of 35,000 viewers from UFC on FX 1, netting 113,000 viewers for the card.

The UFC recently moved much of its live-event programming from Spike TV to FX and FUEL TV thanks to the seven-year deal with FOX. By comparison, UFC Fight Night and The Ultimate Fighter Finale events on Spike TV averaged approximately 1.8 million to 2.2 million viewers in recent years. A January "UFC Prelims" special for UFC 142 averaged 880,000 FX viewers prior to the night's pay-per-view main card.

Sherdog board was freaking out because WWE Smackdown rating destroyed UFC's head to head that night.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

Sherdog board was freaking out because WWE Smackdown rating destroyed UFC's head to head that night.

Did they honestly think that card would beat Smackdown?

Umm...I do. It is wrestling, but as Fuel TV gets bigger, it will smooth out.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

Sherdog board was freaking out because WWE Smackdown rating destroyed UFC's head to head that night.

That's kind of embarrassing.

It's really not embarrassing to be honest. Wrestling has a very storied background in this country and others. It's got such a huge following and it's on channels pretty much any cable customer has.

Ludo wrote:

It's really not embarrassing to be honest. Wrestling has a very storied background in this country and others. It's got such a huge following and it's on channels pretty much any cable customer has.

Does it really still have a strong fanbase ? I was under the impression Vince was struggling lately.

Struggling in terms of the fact it is down from the haydays of the various golden ages it has had, but wrestling has a strong base in poor, anti-intellectual households. You also know what to expect from wrestling. The same level of action every time and horrible low brow toilet humor. MMA is OMG REAL FIGHTING DUDE but I have talked to many casuals who got into MMA during the wrong event or tuned in with legit interest for the exact wrong fight, and were not hooked. A friend of mine called it the "biggest rip off in sports history".

Cage Fighting is significantly smarter than professional wrestling. Also, the card didn't have any huge huge names and was anchored with flyweights. Thiago Alves has been a nonfactor since GSP blew him out and Kampmann is about as marketable as a box of condoms at a Rick Santorum rally.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Struggling in terms of the fact it is down from the haydays of the various golden ages it has had, but wrestling has a strong base in poor, anti-intellectual households. You also know what to expect from wrestling. The same level of action every time and horrible low brow toilet humor. MMA is OMG REAL FIGHTING DUDE but I have talked to many casuals who got into MMA during the wrong event or tuned in with legit interest for the exact wrong fight, and were not hooked. A friend of mine called it the "biggest rip off in sports history".

Cage Fighting is significantly smarter than professional wrestling. Also, the card didn't have any huge huge names and was anchored with flyweights. Thiago Alves has been a nonfactor since GSP blew him out and Kampmann is about as marketable as a box of condoms at a Rick Santorum rally.

Ali wrote:

Ludo wrote:

It's really not embarrassing to be honest. Wrestling has a very storied background in this country and others. It's got such a huge following and it's on channels pretty much any cable customer has.

Does it really still have a strong fanbase ? I was under the impression Vince was struggling lately.

http://www.gerweck.net/tv-ratings/2011-ratings/

They averaged about 5 million viewers a week through 2011 between Raw and Smackdown.

Ludo wrote:

Ali wrote:

Ludo wrote:

It's really not embarrassing to be honest. Wrestling has a very storied background in this country and others. It's got such a huge following and it's on channels pretty much any cable customer has.

Does it really still have a strong fanbase ? I was under the impression Vince was struggling lately.

http://www.gerweck.net/tv-ratings/2011-ratings/

They averaged about 5 million viewers a week through 2011 between Raw and Smackdown.

Wow.

Still can't hold a candle to the glory days of my youth when The Rock, Stone Cold and Masked Kane were running the joint.

Yeah, 1999 and 2000 were some of the highest rated years for Raw by itself, easily eclipsing Raw and Smackdown combined for last year.

http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/RAWisWAR/WWFRawRatings.html

I don't know if wrestling is dumber or if I am smarter these days but the gap between what I used to see and what I see now from my own perspective is so large I imagine it has to be a lot of both.

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

Umm...I do. It is wrestling, but as Fuel TV gets bigger, it will smooth out.

It was not Fuel that got murdered...it was FX. I don't even know if Fuel has as many subscribers as people who watch Smackdown.

There is clearly some validity to the idea that MMA has some cross over fan appeal with the WWE, but it is also a myth we compete for the exact same fans. Most hardcore MMA forums chase off WWE fans like they are really dumb people who can't spell worth a shit and have terrible fight opinions. Which is not of course absolutely not true.