The UFC still has a long way to go before it matches sports like golf and baseball in mainstream popularity. But the ratings for Saturday's showing of the Ultimate Fighter Finale on Spike show that among young men, the UFC has very much arrived.Spike announced today that the Ultimate Fighter Finale, featuring Diego Sanchez beating Clay Guida in the main event, got 663,000 viewers in the male 18-34 demographic -- the demographic that advertisers covet most -- compared to 384,000 for the U.S. Open on NBC and 184,000 for Major League Baseball on Fox.
Those were the highest ratings for an Ultimate Fighter Finale since the Season 6 finale, which also featured Guida in the main event, losing to Roger Huerta. Spike also says Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter got better ratings in the target demographic than any of the last three seasons of the show. Both Spike and the UFC have high hopes that Season 10 ratings will be higher still, thanks to a cast of heavyweights featuring Kimbo Slice.
UFC announcer Joe Rogan had a comedy special on Spike immediately following the Ultimate Fighter Finale, and that got a 1.2 rating among men 18-34, making it the No. 1 cable show in the demographic.
