Reports are that last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights featuring Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson broke all records for MMA on Spike TV with an average of 5.3 million viewers for the whole episode and 6.1 million views for the fight itself.
This puts Kimbo Slice vs Roy Nelson as the fourth most viewed MMA fight in U.S. history. Kimbo has now fought in three out of the four most viewed fights in American MMA history.
TV By The Numbers is reporting that TUF was competitive with the big three networks in viewership in that time slot -- "CSI: NY" on CBS drew 12.87 million viewers, "Eastwick" on ABC drew 6.62 million, and "The Jay Leno Show" drew 5.99 million.
Update from Michael Rome: The show did a 3.7 Household rating according to MMA Payout. That is the highest household rating a mixed martial arts show has ever done, though admittedly it's not fair to compare a one hour show to two or three hour broadcasts.
The UFC put together terrific television last night, as the organization turned what many were predicting to be a disaster (i.e., Kimbo’s presumed loss to Nelson) into, well, perhaps not quite gold, but something that’s likely to keep a strong level of viewer interest through the remainder of the season, even if Kimbo does not (as was hinted in the preview of next week’s episode) immediately receive a second chance in the tournament.
The UFC took the exact opposite tack as that taken by EliteXC, which promoted Kimbo as an almost unbeatable freak (recall announcer Gus Johnson’s excitement at having seen the greatest "upset" in MMA history when Seth Petruzelli KO’d Kimbo).
Last night’s Kimbo was likable and intelligent, and even turned introspective towards the camera discussing his need to defeat his "enemy," his "enemy," his "inner me." Truly great stuff.
The UFC will bring these numbers to networks, who won't be able to deny the UFC's reach when the ratings in the 18-34 demographic rivaled all but the biggest NFL games. I suspect these numbers will really help the UFC get the network deal they want.
Further, six million people tuned in to see Roy Nelson last night. There is no other way six million people would have ever heard of Roy Nelson if not for Kimbo Slice. All of those fans were also exposed to a barrage of UFC 104 advertisements, as well as a number of great lines from Rampage Jackson. Nobody can argue that any of this is bad for the sport.
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