UFC on Fuel 5 draws just 111,000 viewers for live broadcast, outdrawn by replay

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's fifth event on Fuel this past Saturday drew the lowest live viewership the organization's had on the network. Only 111,000 viewers tuned in for the afternoon broadcast, and it was actually outdrawn by the 10PM ET replay, which brought 140,000 viewers, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

The numbers marked a significant dip for the organization, as the previous low had been 173,000 viewers for UFC on Fuel 3 in May. Saturday's card was the second event on Fuel to air during the afternoon, as UFC on Fuel 2 emanated from Stockholm, Sweden. However, that card drew 197,000 viewers to Fuel for the live broadcast.

Saturday's event was headlined by Stefan Struve's second round finish against Stipe Miocic, and also featured Dan Hardy defeating Amir Sadollah, Brad Pickett knocking out Yves Jabouin, and Matt Wiman submitting Paul Sass.

Penick's Analysis: That's a shockingly low number, although it did have to compete against a full slate of college football, whereas the April event didn't have anything near that type of competition. Still, that's a significantly lesser number than Bellator's season seven debut, which drew nearly 200,000 viewers to MTV2 on Friday night. They're going to face possibly worse numbers for UFC on Fuel 6, as that event is slated to begin early in the morning of Nov. 10 in the U.S., unless they up the advertising push for the card.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14549.shtml

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