The TUF 10 Finale ratings are in, and as expected they’re bigger than any other TUF finale the UFC has ever put on. Interestingly enough, the average and peak viewership numbers are just below the numbers Strikeforce and Fedor put up on CBS, though to be fair, CBS is available in approximately 16 million more households than Spike TV.
Spike TV’s telecast of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” live finale on Saturday, December 5 was the most watched final episode in the 10 seasons of the TUF franchise, peaking with 5.2 million viewers and a 5.9 rating with Men 18-34 for the Kimbo Slice-Houston Alexander fight. The over 5 million viewers were the most to watch a live UFC fight in 2009.
Overall, the three-hour fight card drew 3.7 million viewers, a 2.4 household rating, a 4.6 in Men 18-34 and was the most-watched show on cable with Men 18-34 and Men 18-49 for the day.
For those keeping score, Kimbo drew almost a million more viewers for his taped fight against Roy Nelson in the season’s third episode than he did in the live finale. Either some people have started to give up on Kimbo or they just weren’t aware he was fighting, the latter of which is entirely possible considering Spike only left themselves three days to promote the Kimbo-Houston fight since they dragged out the possibility of his return to very last episode.
The question now is, what does the UFC do with Kimbo? We know millions of people will change the channel to CBS or Spike for Kimbo, but will they shell out $45/$55 to watch him fight?
Image via Sherdog
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Yes, Kimbo is a definite buy for PPV viewers
The answer is yes. The UFC needs Kimbo to help with their lacking ratings for the last couple of PPV’s. He did a good job in his last fight and I’d pay to see him again
It really doesn’t matter. After his fight last Saturday, which wasn’t that good as what the fan boys are making out, people are slowly moving away from the hype that surrounds him. If it will currently help ratings, I think they should go for it!
People wont be willing to pay that kind of money to see him fight unless hes trained
none of that mess we saw on the tuf 10 finale is going to cut it on a ppv show.
He better get his skills up. Dana dont be a fool Kimbo is no super seller.
In the end it will be Kimbo’s performance that ultimately decides how many people are willing to pay for a Kimbo ppv. I also agree with Omen about Kimbo’s fight with Houston. It wasn’t that great.
There are still several questions that need to be answered. Can he improve his cardio? Can he actually make the cut to 205?