Tape Delayed Telecast of “UFC 105” Bests Live Saturday, November 7 Presentation Of “CBS Saturday Night Fights” In Key Demographic

Young Male Viewers Continue To Drive Spike TV And The UFC
As Network Telecast Ranks #1 In Men 18-34 Among Broadcast and Cable TV For Saturday, November 14

New York, NY, November 18, 2009 – The first ever UFC card on Spike TV featuring Randy “The Natural” Couture drew an average audience of 2.9 million viewers on Saturday, November 14 (8:00 – 11:00 PM).  Emanating from a European UFC attendance record setting MEN Arena in Manchester, England, the tape delayed presentation of “UFC 105” outrated the LIVE broadcast “CBS Saturday Night Fights” and the Strikeforce debut of Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday, November 7 (9:00 – 11:24 PM, ET/PT) in every key male demographic:

  • P 18-34 by 30%  (UFC 105 2.37, CBS Saturday Night Fights 1.82)
  • M 18-34 by 49%  (UFC 105 3.45, CBS Saturday Night Fights 2.32)
  • M 18-24 by 73%  (UFC 105 2.99, CBS Saturday Night Fights 1.73)
  • M 25-34 by 37%  (UFC 105 3.78, CBS Saturday Night Fights 2.76)
  • M 18-49 by 16%  (UFC 105 2.84, CBS Saturday Night Fights 2.45)

The telecast’s stellar M 18-34 rating and delivery (994,000 viewers) outperformed anything else on television, broadcast or cable on November 14, including heavy sports competition from college football.  The telecast peaked at 3.7 million viewers during the main event, a light heavyweight bout between Couture, the UFC® Hall of Famer, and his opponent, Brandon “The Truth” Vera.

Overall, the Spike telecast reached 2.9 million people with a 3.45 rating Men 18-34 (994,000), a 2.84 rating in Men 18-49 (1.6 million), and a 1.9 HH rating.

Couture prevailed in a classic matchup of grappler against striker, as his Greco wrestling ability and experience helped him earn a very close decision against Vera and his arsenal of Muy Thai strikes.  The night’s co-feature pitted the UK’s Dan Hardy against Mike “Quick” Swick with number one contender in the welterweight division at stake.  Hardy did not disappoint the partisan crowd as he put on a dominating performance en route to a unanimous decision, setting up a matchup with Georges St. Pierre down the line.  Also on the card, Michael Bisping, fighting in his hometown of Manchester, utilized an extremely effective ground and pound strategy to defeat Denis Kang via TKO in the second round of their middleweight showdown.

The action-packed undercard also featured the two “The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom” champions in action, with lightweight winner Ross Pearson scoring a TKO win over Aaron Riley in the second round of their bout, and welterweight winner James Wilks falling to Matt Brown via TKO in the third round of their matchup.

Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

-Press Release

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