UFC 116 Prelim Broadcast On Spike Draws 1.5 Million Viewers

Spike TV’s broadcast of the final two preliminary bouts and a tape-delayed bout from this past Saturday prior to UFC 116 drew an average of 1.3 million viewers during the one hour time slot on July 3.

The news was reported by MMAjunkie.com earlier today after speaking with industry sources.

The broadcast featured two live undercard bouts from the evening’s card, including Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer and Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero. A tape delayed fight between Gerald Harris and David Branch also made the broadcast due to the highlight reel knockout slam to give Harris the third round stoppage. The broadcast peaked in the final quarter-hour with 1.5 million viewers.

The ratings for the special came in at 1.11 for males between the ages of 18 and 34 and at 1.04 for males between the ages of 18-49, giving the broadcast second place in terms of basic cable television channel viewership during the hour.

The preliminary special preceded the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 116, which featured Brock Lesnar’s second round submission victory over Shane Carwin, as well as Chris Leben’s upset submission victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama in the co-main event slot. Numbers for the pay-per-view have yet to be revealed.