Following up two straight weeks season low ratings for The Ultimate Fighter the UFC looked to bounce back again with an episode that featured Team Jones #1 draft pick losing Clint Hester losing via RNC submission in the second round to Team Sonnen fighter Jimmy Quinlan.
According to Nielsen sources, the sixth episode of The Ulimate Fighter 17 came in 24th overall out of the top 100 cable shows with 1.259 million viewers and a 0.7 in the adult 18-49 demographic.
This episodes preliminary estimate was much better than the last two weeks low of 1.13 and 1.14. Although, it should be noted The Ulimate Fighter actually lost a few viewers from the 7 p.m. lead-in movie which scored a 1.363 million viewers.
When it came to the competition from the national networks in the 9 p.m. time-slot the UFC went up against NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS that drew an insane 15.95 million viewers and a 2.8 18-49 adult demographic (7 share). Although, it did beat a repeat of Beauty and the Beast on the CW. Obviously, not the same demographic grouping, but just some food for thought.
On the cable side of things at 9 p.m. time-slot the UFC went up against its usual Top Gear, Face Off and Dance Moms. Each of these shows posted 0.7’s or better in the 18-49 adult demo and well over 1.6 million viewers for each show. The highest rated 9 p.m. cable show ended up the NBA on TNT which finished with 3.33 million viewers and a huge 1.6 in the 18-49 adult demographic.