The first episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated produced the lowest viewership in the show’s history.
It’s no secret that The Ultimate Fighter is not as popular as it used to be, but it’s never been this bad in terms of ratings.
Wednesday’s premiere of the UFC’s long-running reality series averaged just 200,000 viewers, with a rating of 0.08, good for 125th among all cable television broadcasts that evening. Unbelievably, this was the most-watched program on FOX Sports 1, as it was a light day of content for the network. It’s still the lowest rated and least-watched TUF season opener in the show’s history.
The #TUF27 premiere avg’d 200k viewers on FS1.
A look at all TUF premieres on FS1. #UFC pic.twitter.com/O2TCKeuFBu
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) April 19, 2018
Once upon a time, the UFC used to have live Fight Night cards as a lead-in for The Ultimate Fighter. That hasn’t been the case for years, and evidently the theme of “undefeated fighters” isn’t really catching the attention of fans.
The show is still there if you want to watch it, but the evidence is overwhelming that fewer people are tuning in. Such is the cycle of many reality television shows.
TUF 27 is coached by Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier, who will fight in the UFC 226 main event on July 7th. The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale is set for July 6th on FS1.