The heavily anticipated fight between Chris Leben and Josh Koscheck on this week’s ‘Ultimate Fighter’ scored a 2.0 rating for Spike TV, averaging 2.2 million viewers for the hour. The RAW ratings have not yet come in.
The ratings spike, which popped a rating 35% above the show’s average, should not come as any surprise. The better part of last week’s episode was dedicated to a drunken incident between Leben and Koscheck (along with Bobby Southworth), the straw that broke the camel’s back in their rivarly. The decision was made to have them end the feud inside the Octagon this Monday, so it’s no surprise the rating was quite strong as many fans couldn’t wait to see how the situation would come to an end.
One thing worth noting, however, is that the Batista contract signing likely scored a strong overrun number for RAW. Thus, the lead-in could have been better than usual, lessening the role of the heavily-hyped fight in providing the strong rating. Either way, this is definitely good news for UFC.
