MMA Payout has learned from a Nielsen source that the TUF 21 Finale drew 691,000 viewers on Sunday night on FS1. The Prelims which preceded the main card drew 470,000 viewers.
The main card on Sunday aired from 6pm-9pm PT and featured Stephen Thompson taking on Jake Ellenberger. Thompson took the win with a highlight reel KO of Ellenberger. It also featured the finals for TUF 21. The Prelims which aired from 4pm-6pm PT featured Josh Samman and Caio Magalhaes. Samman submitted Magalhaes with a rear-naked choke. In a show poor sportsmanship, Magalhaes spat at Samman whom he thought held on to the RNC too long.
In comparison to the same event last year, it was a precipitous drop from last year’s TUF 19 Finale. Last year, the card featuring BJ Penn taking on Frankie Edgar drew 1 million viewers and the prelims drew 774,000. Obviously, it may be an unfair comparison since Penn-Edgar is a much better main event than Thompson and Ellenberger. Of course, looking back at the Penn-Edgar event, there were not many other notable fights on that card. Corey Anderson, Eddie Gordon and Derick Lewis are names UFC fans may remember from last year.
This year we did have Michelle Waterson making her debut, Jorge Masvidal and Dan Miller. But after that there were many prospects on the card.
Recent TUF Finale ratings:
TUF 18 (December 2013): 1.13M viewers, Prelims 938,000
TUF 19 (July 2014) : 1 million viewers, Prelims 774,000
TUF 20 (December 2014): 989,000, Prelims 719,000
TUF 21 (July 2015): 691,000, Prelims 470,000
Payout Perspective:
Based on the past 4 TUF Finales, you can see the drop in viewership. Perhaps one of the reasons is the correlation between the show and the final event. That is, ratings for TUF are dropping which means less people are invested in seeing the fighters that appear on the weekly show in the final. With that being said, I think having the TUF Finale as part of International Fight Week is a good idea. TUF is not going away and with the announcement that Connor McGregor will be a coach next season, the UFC and Fox hope it will revive the franchise.
No surprise that the finale was much lower compared to last year’s, which included Penn-Edgar.
The show isn’t getting the ratings it used to, but still considered popular enough to continue the series. Will be interesting to see what next season’s ratings will be like with Conor and the Europe VS America angle.
i bet it doesn’t hit over 700k per episode. wanting to see Conor fight is one thing but taking time out of your day to watch TUF is another. They should have done Conor vs Aldo and used America VS Brazil angle. They actually have beef.
the ultimate failure! Numbers not lie but Dana and the girls sure do!
Ultimate failure? Then what would we call boxing’s multiple unsuccessful attempts at reality TV (“The Contender”, “The Next Great Champ”, ” The Fighter”) which were canceled after a few seasons? On the other hand, TUF continues into its 22nd season and produced international versions.
Saldaqueer and his tears.
I don’t think anything can revive this franchise, credit where it’s due and it is amazing that this crappy show has been able to hit its 21st season. It had a good run during its first couple of seasons but it has been going downhill ever since, all it manages to do now is produce mediocre talent and keep the coaches tied up and in long layoffs where they actually get rusty or injured. If they want to increase the ratings maybe they should have tag team of Conor & Rousey vs. Kimbo, then they can square off in a death match and the winner calls out Mayweather for added stupidity.
Sal the pathetic
Combo on July 14th, 2015 6:22 PM
Ultimate failure? Then what would we call boxing’s multiple unsuccessful attempts at reality TV (“The Contender”, “The Next Great Champ”, ” The Fighter”) which were canceled after a few seasons? On the other hand, TUF continues into its 22nd season and produced international versions.
Its because Boxing fans dont watch bullshit reality shows.
Ive never watch one and never will. I generally will lose respect for a boxer if hes come through a tv show.
Its like American Idol and music. You werent good enough to make it through the system so you got lucky and won a talent show.
Sports shouldnt have reality shows.
Hahahahahaha
Gayest is admitting those shows were bullshit reality shows. Hahahaha.
Reality shows are for girls and fat guys sitting on a couch or kids! You girls love to bring up the contender bahahahhaha yea its simple, when something fails you pull it! Look at the numbers you complete MORONS! tuf is a failure! less not more people watching, even after the fox deal! More idiots!
So you would fall into that category- you are a fat, type II diabetic who may not sit on a couch, but you sit in your wheel chair with diapers on.
The difference is TUF was not a failure, despite the fact that the ratings declined. It is part of what helped put Spike on the map. Sal da retard.
Yea declining rating by the hundreds of thousands is good? bahahahahahha D would spin a piece of shit on a rope bahahhaha
You can’t comprehend anything you leper. The numbers are declining because at one point in time, the ratings were very good. The ratings for all of the boxing shows were never good and all were cancelled relatively quickly. Moron.