UFC on FX 7 was destined to do good ratings based simply on the main event and time of year. Michael Bisping is one of the most consistent big draws in the UFC, a solid example is when his fight with Jason Miller on the TUF 14 finale drew 3.4 million viewers during the fight.
But I don’t know that it was fair to expect the show to do as well as it did given the UFC’s prior numbers on FX. MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer gives the numbers:
The main show, headlined by Vitor Belfort’s second-round knockout over Michael Bisping, did 1,857,000 viewers. It was the largest audience to witness an MMA show on FX and beat the record for a UFC on FX-specific show by 30 percent. The prelims for the show on Fuel did 255,000 viewers which was the single-most watched television show in the history of that station. It broke the old Fuel record for a prelims show of 160,000 viewers by 59 percent.
With this news, plus news of a very solid rating for the debut of the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, Dana White and Co. have to be pretty damn happy with how things are going to kick off 2013.
We’ll see if the success can carry over into this weekend’s UFC on Fox 6 event.