I’m pretty sure that everyone involved knew that UFC’s move to Fox Sports 1 was going to involve some serious growing pains, especially with the fact that Fox Sports 1 was just a rebranded Speed Network, which wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire. Fox Sports 1’s programming has been getting, well, not many viewers to say the least. There is talk about Regis Philben’s show pulling in sub-30,000 per show, which is almost comical. There are some shows on Fox Sports 1 that pull in a 0.0 rating, which means fewer than 1,000 viewers, possibly no viewers.
Growing pains.
The UFC has been the network’s bread winner thus far, with the inaugural UFC Fight Night card pulling in respectable ratings. Granted, it was a huge, PPV-quality fight card, but yes, huge ratings. Since then there has been a steady drop for the last two, with this past one dipping even more into the danger zone. According to Dave Meltzer, UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Bader did 539,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1. Oddly enough, The Ultimate Fighter fared a bit better with 762,000 viewers, which is still the lowest season opener to date.