UFC 120 averages 1.9 million viewers, down from prior broadcasts

MMAJunkie.com reports that Spike TV's airing of "UFC 120: Bisping vs. Akiyama" drew a household rating of 1.3 with an average of 1.9 million viewers. Although this number is up from recent non-numbered UFC shows on the network, it is a significant plunge from the last time a numbered UFC show aired on Spike, UFC 105 last November.

UFC 120 was headlined by a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Yoshihiro Akiyama.

The Oct. 16 broadcast scored a 1.8 rating among men 18-49 and a 2.24 among men 18-24.

The ratings were better than those Spike TV usually draws for its traditional live event broadcasts (UFC Fight Night and The Ultimate Fighter Finale shows). The event also drew better than the "UFC Prelims" broadcasts that preceded live pay-per-view shows.

However, Spike TV's most recent tape-delayed overseas broadcast, UFC 105 in November 2009, drew a solid 2.9 million viewers (and peaked with 3.7 million for the Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera headliner). Prior to that, UFC 95 drew 2.4 million viewers and peaked with 3.1 million for the Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson headliner.

There was more complaining than normal about "spoilers" for this show, so were more people exposed to the results and just decided to forego watching the broadcast, thus leading to the lower number? This number, though, spells nothing but doom for next month's UFC 122 on Spike, which is headlined by a middleweight bout between Nathan Marquardt and Yushin Okami. If this show did a 1.3 rating, what is that show, which has no star power whatsoever on it, going to do?

SBN coverage of UFC 120: Bisping vs. Akiyama