UFC on FOX 5 Ratings: FX Prelims Hit 1.2 Million Viewers

UFC on FOX 5 ratings: FX prelims hit 1.2 million viewers
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Dec 11, 2012 at 12:15 pm ET

Ratings for FX's broadcast of this past weekend's UFC on FOX 5 preliminary card topped the 1-million viewers mark for the eighth time.

FX's three-hour broadcast, which featured all seven preliminary-card fights, six of them live, averaged 1.2 million viewers. That's up from the 980,000 who tuned in for the two-hour prelims show for UFC 154 in November.

MMAjunkie.com on Tuesday confirmed the figures with industry sources.

UFC on FOX 5 took place Dec. 8 at KeyArena in Seattle. The FX broadcast followed one prelim fight on Facebook between Scott Jorgensen and John Albert, though that fight also made it to the FX broadcast following the six live fights. The FX telecast preceded the night's main card, which aired on FOX and featured lightweight champion Benson Henderson's dominant unanimous decision victory over Nate Diaz.

FX's lineup included a big knockout win for Yves Edwards over Jeremy Stephens, handing "Lil' Heathen" the first knockout loss of his 29-fight career. In addition, Daron Cruickshank stopped Henry Martinez with a head-kick knockout, Abel Trujillo dominated Marcus LeVesseur and finished him with knees to the body, Jorgensen submitted Albert with just one second left in the first round and Raphael Assuncao, Ramsey Nijem and Dennis Siver picked up unanimous decision wins.

To date, FX has aired 13 PPV prelims specials. UFC on FOX 5's falls sixth out of 13. Overall, the 13 broadcasts have averaged 1.2 million viewers per event.

UFC on FOX 5 was the first time FX has aired prelims prior to a FOX main card. Previously, it had only aired live prelims prior to pay-per-view events, plus its own live main-card events.

FX next airs live fights on back-to-back nights this weekend with Friday's UFC on FX 6 in Australia and Saturday's TUF 16 Finale in Las Vegas.

FX's next preliminary-card broadcast takes place in conjunction with this month's UFC 155 event in Las Vegas. Prior to the PPV main card and Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez headliner, FX airs four prelims that are expected to include notables such as Eddie Wineland, Brad Pickett and Chris Leben.

The all-time UFC-FX preliminary-card ratings include:

UFC 148 ratings: 1.8 million viewers
UFC 145 ratings: 1.6 million
UFC 144 ratings: 1.5 million
UFC 143 ratings: 1.4 million
UFC 146 ratings: 1.3 million
UFC on FOX 5 ratings: 1.2 million
UFC 153 ratings: 1.0 million
UFC 149 ratings: 1.0 million
UFC 154 ratings: 980,000
UFC 150 ratings: 974,000
UFC 147 ratings: 969,000
UFC 152 ratings: 955,000
UFC 142 ratings: 880,000