UFC
UFC 144 "Prelims Live" draws 1.5 million viewers to FX
Feb 28, 2012 - 10:20:09 AM UFC 144 "Prelims Live" draws 1.5 million viewers to FX

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Ratings continue to improve for the UFC on FX, as MMAJunkie.com reports that Saturday's two-hour preliminary card broadcast for UFC 144 drew an average of 1.5 million viewers.

That number is up from the 1.3 million viewers that tuned in for the UFC 143 preliminary card at the beginning of the month, which in turn was up from the slightly under 900,000 viewers for UFC 142's "Prelims Live" broadcast in January.

Saturday's two-hour prelims featured a couple of solid fights in Riki Fukuda vs. Steve Cantwell and Chris Cariaso vs. Takeya Mizugaki, as well as two of the night's highlights in Vaughan Lee's first round submission of Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto and Takanori Gomi's second round comeback against Eiji Mitsuoka.

The 1.5 million viewers sets the card firmly in the middle of the pack in the history of the UFC's preliminary card broadcasts, as the 27 prelims specials that Spike TV aired over the last couple of years averaged 1.5 million viewers as well.

Penick's Analysis: It's clear that awareness of the UFC's shift to FX is beginning to pick up, and the viewership will continue to increase the further they get into this relationship. The UFC's identity was so ingrained with Spike TV for so long that it's going to take time to show everyone that there's been a change. The FX platform will continue to improve in viewership for the organization, and they've got a lot of chances to build a continuous relationship with fans on the network in the next few months. UFC on FX 2 comes live this Friday night, then The Ultimate Fighter Live begins the following week, meaning they've got 14 weeks to hopefully hook fans on a week to week basis and continue building awareness of their presence on FX.