UFC’s FX Debut Pulls 1.3 Million Viewers, 148K on Fuel TV

The two-hour live broadcast, which aired last Friday at 9 p.m. ET from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., was headlined by a key lightweight tilt that saw Jim Miller score a first-round submission of Melvin Guillard.

UFC on FX 1 also pulled a 1.19 rating in the Men 18-49 demographic and a 1.20 in M18-34. The numbers represent a slight dip from the UFC’s 2011 “Fight Night” averages on former cable home Spike TV. According to Sherdog.com’s source, the three live UFC events on Spike last year averaged 1.9 million viewers, with 1.80 ratings in both M18-49 and M18-34.

Spike TV counterprogrammed the event with a marathon of “UFC Unleashed” episodes featuring Guillard. The episode aired at 10 p.m., which included Guillard against Waylon Lowe from UFC 114, drew the highest rating with an average of 751,000 viewers. The episodes at 9 and 11 p.m. notched respective averages of 648,000 and 543,000.

The FX event’s preliminary card aired live on another Fox channel, Fuel TV, from 6 to 9 p.m. ET and scored an average of 148,000 viewers, a strong rating for the lesser-known station. The six-fight undercard broadcast was topped by middleweight Jorge Rivera’s farewell bout, a second-round stoppage victory against Eric Schafer.