The Daily Line: UFC On Fox 2 Draws Solid Numbers

After teasing fight fans of their sever-year deal with Fox networks by airing a heavyweight title fight on "big" Fox this past November, the UFC made their full, official debut on Fox this month with UFC on Fox 2: Evans vs. Davis.

Airing live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, the UFC on Fox 2 main card featured a middleweight match up between the seasoned Demian Maia and surging prospect Chris Weidman, a middleweight contendership match between Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, as well as a light heavyweight contendership bout in the main event between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis.

Though the broadcast and the fights both drew their separate criticisms, the numbers pulled in by the broadcast were respectable, with Fox today releasing a detailed breakdown of the viewership for UFC on Fox 2.

On average, the event drew 4.7 million viewers for a household rating of 2.6, as compared to UFC on Fox 1, which pulled in 5.7 million viewers for a rating of 3.1.

Over the course of the two-hour broadcast, viewership fluctuated, with the breakdown of viewers for each of the three main fights as follows: Maia vs. Weidman = 4 million viewers/2.6 rating, Sonnen vs. Bisping = 4.9 million viewers/2.7 rating, Evans vs. Davis = 6.1 million viewers/3.1 rating.

In addition to those pleasing statistics, the UFC were sent home from the Windy City smiling for having dwarfed the other main networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) in terms of viewership from the sought-after 18-34 and 18-49 demographics.

With solid ratings turned in despite a lukewarm reaction to the card, the UFC has to be happy with how their product fared for the second time on Fox and looking forward to how they'll do as their efforts with the network become more streamlined.

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