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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC's lengthy day of programming on Fox Sports 1 on Wednesday drew decent numbers for the UFC, up a bit from the last couple of Wednesday night cards. The debut for The Ultimate Fighter 19 was down, though, from the numbers drawn by season 18 last September.
The live broadcast for "The Ultimate Fighter: Nations" Finale drew 263,000 viewers in the afternoon for the prelims, with 641,000 viewers tuning in for the main card. The TUF 19 premiere averaged 595,000 viewers.
For comparison's sake, the most recent Wednesday night card, January's UFC Fight Night 35 from just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, drew 220,000 preliminary card viewer and 629,000 viewers, with the "TUF: Nations" premiere drawing just 371,000 viewers.
The 641,000 viewers on Wednesday for the main card was equal to the "Fight For The Troops 3" card from last November, and up from the 539,000 viewers who tuned in for the Wednesday night card last September leading into The Ultimate Fighter 18. That season premiere drew significantly higher than TUF 19 at 762,000 viewers.
Penick's Analysis: Wednesday nights on FS1 are clearly not the UFC's best night. They draw significantly better on Saturday nights, and even Sunday nights as they found out with the Henderson-Shogun event last month. These are on the higher end of what they do on Wednesdays, but certainly lesser than they'd like to see.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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