Ultimate Fight Night 14 on Spike Saturday night went up against Affliction's first pay per view broadcast in an attempt by the UFC to cypher any potential MMA fans who would buy the event. While Affliction's pay per view sales figures have yet to be announced, MMAPayout.com has announced the ratings for the UFC's Live event.
The event iself drew a 2.1 (3.1 million viewers), in the always coveted males 18 to 49 demographic the event got a 2.8. It also recieved a 3.2 in males 18 to 34 and the event was the highest rated show on cable TV for the night. The broadcast itself did its best when it peaked at 11:30pm at the time of the main event and spiked to 3.8 million viewers and had a 4.9 in males 25 to 34.
While the event was a huge success from a ratings standpoint it does not mean all of these customers opted to only watch the UFC's broadcast. Keep in mind many fans recorded the event on their Tivo and DVRs so they could watch both events. Other fans may have also tuned in to watch Affliction live and then UFN-14's second broadcast at 1:00 AM when it was being replayed. If Affliction's numbers prove to be solid it will show MMA fans now have room for two companies and one that can compete with the UFC.
