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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC Unleashed Debuts with Solid Ratings on Spike TV
The premiere episode of "UFC Unleashed" drew an overall rating of 1.6 on Spike TV this past Monday night at 11:05 PM. That number compares favorably to the 1.4 rating that was drawn by the first episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV back on January 17 of this year.

The 1.6 rating falls just short of the 1.7 rating that The Ultimate Fighter averaged over the course of its first season, but is a higher-than-expected number given the fact that there was very little advertising ahead of time for the premiere of "UFC Unleashed." The vast majority of the promotional machine on Spike TV is going towards promoting the UFC's three-hour live special, which is scheduled for August 6th at 9:00 PM Eastern Time.

Starting in early October when WWE programming leaves Spike TV and heads back to USA Network, Saturday nights on Spike TV will consist of UFC Unleashed at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, The Ultimate Fighter at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, another episode of UFC Unleashed at 10:00 PM Eastern Time, and the pro wrestling show "TNA Impact" at 11:00 PM Eastern Time.

Meanwhile, The Ultimate Fighter Season One is listed on Amazon.com as a five-DVD set with a release date of November 1, 2005. Amazon.com has it listed for $28, although it may cost as much as $40 at some retailers.

Tito Ortiz Cries out for Attention
In other MMA-related news, former UFC fighter Tito Ortiz recently made some posts on the Underground Forum about Ultimate Fighter light-heavyweight winner Forrest Griffin, saying that he would beat Griffin easily. This would appear to be a desperate cry for attention from Ortiz. The UFC is not going to meet his intentionally ridiculous financial demands, and neither is anyone else. As that reality sinks in, these kinds of outbursts will probably become more frequent.

As for Forrest Griffin, it's all conjecture about who he would or wouldn't beat in a UFC match (and there's no doubt Griffin would be the underdog if he fought Ortiz). However, the undeniable fact of the matter is that Forrest Griffin has higher name awareness among the general public than Tito Ortiz, or even Royce Gracie.

The Ultimate Fighter, in its Monday night airings and weekend re-airings each week, was viewed by millions of people each week. There is a big difference between millions of viewers every week and "100,000 is considered a huge audience," which was the case with the UFC before The Ultimate Fighter came along.

I would imagine that fighters like Ortiz (and old-school fighters like Royce Gracie) might feel threatened by this fact, but it doesn't change the fact that more people saw The Ultimate Fighter than all of Ortiz' fights combined, or all of Gracie's fights combined. That's just the reality of the situation, for better or for worse.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:03 AM

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