For all the attention UFC brings to Spike TV, it is clear that the mixed martial arts promotion receives a significant benefit from having its fights and broadcasts on the male-skewing cable network.
UFC’s latest venture onto another network again bombed in the ratings–MMAJunkie.com and F4WOnline.com reported that UFC on Versus 3: Sanchez vs. Kampmann scored just a 0.67 cable coverage rating.
Barely above the numbers for the high-level WEC events, the number was a major disappointment by UFC standards. Fight night cards on Spike TV typically have no trouble clearing a 1.0 cable rating. And though the card was not stacked on paper, the Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann main-event was definitely a solid headliner for a free show.
And it was the second such disappointment in less than a week’s time. The UFC 127 preliminary bouts on ION averaged less than a million viewers this Saturday, down sharply from the last equivalent broadcast on Spike TV.
F4WOnline adds that TNA Wrestling did a 1.4 cable coverage rating. Though up from its average and far better than the UFC number, that performance does not necessarily reflect the “stacked” nature of the show; it featured Hulk Hogan, Sting, Angelina Pivarnick from “Jersey Shore” and New York Jets player Bart Scott.
(Full ratings data, including the important adults 18-49 number and viewership averages, are forthcoming)
