This past Saturdays UFC on FX 8 which featured Vitor Belfort knocking out former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold television rating was down roughly 30% from UFC on FX 7’s record breaking number a few months ago.
According to Nielsen sources, UFC on FX 8 landed at 1.3 million viewers falling in-line with the FX average, which is roughly 1.29 million viewers for the 8 FX cards combined.
When it came to the preliminary card, which was featured on Fuel TV, the final number came in at 156k viewers. That number was good enough to be a 15% increase over past FX preliminary cards on Fuel TV.
When it came to the nights competition, the UFC went head-to-head with an NBA juggernaut. The NBA showcased the Pacers vs Knicks on ESPN which ended up being a season ending game for the Knicks. The game drew a total of 4.9 million viewers on ESPN, which was actually down 29% from last years Sixers and Celtics game 7 which hit 7.0 million viewers on the same weekend.
With that said, it is simply hard to ignore that ESPN number as it truly shows the UFC drawing power compared to the NBA, especially when you have a New York team in the mix. To make it even worse, this NBA playoffs has actually been underwhelming ratings wise compared to the previous couple of postseasons. Now who knows, maybe it is the match-ups, maybe it is the lack of drama, nevertheless, 1.3 vs 4.9 is a measurable victory for the NBA and ESPN.