Saturday night’s final UFC main card on FX did right at the viewership average for that type of show.
UFC on FX 8, from Santa Catarina, Brazil, headlined by Vitor Belfort’s first-round TKO of former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, averaged 1.3 million viewers for the two-hour prime time broadcast. The number is identical to the average of the previous seven main cards in prime time on the network. If including the other three main cards on the station, all Ultimate Fighter finals, the average is still 1.3 million viewers.
Belfort headlined UFC on FX 7, on Jan. 19, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a fight with Michael Bisping that set the series record with 1.86 million viewers. The other live main cards on the station have ranged from just under 1 million viewers to 1.4 million.
With the move to Fox Sports 1 in August, FX has only five UFC broadcasts remaining, which are the prelims leading to four pay-per-views, the next being Saturday’s UFC 160, and prelims for the July 27 show from Seattle on FOX.
The three hours of prelims on Fuel drew a 0.35 rating and 156,000 viewers. The previous prelims on Jan. 19 drew a 0.47 rating and 255,000 viewers. But Saturday’s figure was up 18 percent from the 132,000 viewer Fuel prelims before FX shows had averaged over the past 17 months since UFC’s contract with FOX went into effect.