Saturday was not a good night for mixed martial arts broadcast ratings, to put it lightly. On the same night Bellator hit a record low with Bellator 53, the UFC garned its own record-low ratings, drawing just 1 million viewers for the Spike TV televised 'UFC Prelims' special. According to official figures from Spike executives, the hour-long broadcast scored a meager 0.8 household rating, with a 1.0 rating among men ages 18-49 and a 1.24 rating among men ages 18-34.
Not helping the numbers was the fact that each aired undercard fight went to a relatively uneventful judge's decision. Anthony "Showtime" Pettis claimed a narrow split decision win over Jeremy "Lil' Heathen" Stephens, and Demian Maia dominated Jorge Santiago over 15 minutes to earn the unanimous nod.
The numbers were a sharp drop from the UFC 135 'UFC Prelims' special in September, which garnered over 1.6 million viewers, for the third-best showing in series history.
'UFC Prelims' ratings on Spike TV (via MMA Junkie):
1) UFC 126 (February 2011): 2 million viewers
2) UFC 109 (February 2010): 1.7 million
3) UFC 135 (September 2011): 1.6 million
3) UFC 131 (June 2011): 1.6 million
3) UFC 114 (May 2010): 1.6 million
6) UFC 129 (April 2010): 1.5 million
6) UFC 108 (January 2010): 1.5 million
6) UFC 121 (October 2010): 1.5 million
6) UFC 123 (November 2010): 1.5 million
10) UFC 133 (August 2011): 1.4 million
10) UFC 104 (October 2009): 1.4 million
10) UFC 103 (September 2009): 1.4 million
13) UFC 134 (August 2011): 1.3 million
13) UFC 130 (May 2011): 1.3 million
13) UFC 128 (March 2011): 1.3 million
13) UFC 119 (September 2010): 1.3 million
13) UFC 116 (July 2010): 1.3 million
13) UFC 115 (June 2010): 1.3 million
13) UFC 106 (November 2009): 1.3 million
20) UFC 132 (July 2011): 1.2 million
20) UFC 111 (March 2010): 1.2 million
22) UFC 118 (August 2010): 1.1 million
23) UFC 136 (October 2011): 1 million