UFC 103 Prelim Ratings far from a Knockout

Many UFC fans were excited about the prospect of two live fights for free on Spike T.V. as the lead in to the UFC 103 pay-per view card. Fans even got to see two extra preliminary bouts during the hour long, lead-in broadcast for the pay-per view.

As fans the move was a total success but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at the ratings, which are conveniently below thanks to a timely Spike press release, 

Spike TV's live telecast of the UFC 103 prelims on Saturday, September 19 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT) delivered a robust 1.4 million viewers and was the #2 rated program in Men 18-34 in all of cable in the timeslot including out-delivering ESPN2's coverage of NCAA college football (West Virginia vs. Auburn).

Overall, the fights drew a 1.5 (441,000) in Men 18-34, a 1.3 (738,000) in Men 18-49, and a household rating of 1.0.

MMA Payout is shocked, shocked to find poor ratings on the preliminary card. 

It's a little surprising that the UFC 103 undercard only drew a 1.0. To give you some context, these are PPV quality fights doing far less than any of the last Fight Night cards (which have averaged a 1.6 over the past five events). Although, the M18-34 rating is fairly solid...

WKR isn't too surprised that the prelim portion did worse when compared to a Fight Night. After all Cole Miller vs. Efrain Escudero doesn't scream must see T.V. Also UFC 103 was devoid of the UFC's biggest pay-per view draws, another reason why eyeballs may have been elsewhere.

The real question is whether the UFC uses the Spike prelim broadcast again. If it helped push up pay-per view buys then we could see it again. Then again if it can't generate high ratings then Spike will not be thrilled having zero commercials for an hour of programming.