Despite the acrimonious relationship between the UFC and Spike the past few months, viewers turned out in droves for last Saturday’s The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale.
Numbers released by Spike to Bloody Elbow showed an average of 2.5 million viewers, peaking at 3.4 million for the main event of Michael Bisping vs. Jason Miller.
The rating was a 1.7, the highest rated and most watched finale since the 10th season conclusion in 2009 that featured Roy Nelson vs. Brendan Schaub in the heavyweight finals, Jon Jones vs. Matt Hamill and Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander.
Spike officials also added that the TUF 14 Finale was No. 1 with males 18-34 and 18-49 among ad-supported cable networks for the night. The numbers are impressive considering there was no real promotion between the UFC and Spike with pre-event press conferences, media calls or the like. The vast majority of attention the past few weeks has been focused on this weekend’s UFC 140.
In addition to Miller vs. Bisping, viewers saw Diego Brandao submit Dennis Bermudez in the featherweight finals and John Dodson defeat T.J. Dillashaw by TKO in the bantamweight finals.