Source: UFC on Fox 4 Averaged 2.4 Million Viewers, Fuel TV Prelims Drew 194,000

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UFC on Fox 4 averaged 2.4 million viewers during its Saturday night broadcast from Staples Center in Los Angeles, Sherdog.com learned Tuesday from an industry source.

The viewership matches the number put forth by UFC on Fox 3, which took place May 5 at Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. Headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between former champion Mauricio Rua and Brandon Vera, UFC on Fox 4 earned a household rating of 1.44.

The Aug. 4 event also saw Lyoto Machida earn a shot at light heavyweight gold by knocking out Ryan Bader with a devastating counter right straight in the evening's co-main event. A “Fight of the Night” winning lightweight scrap between Joe Lauzon and Jamie Varner was also featured on the Fox broadcast, as was Mike Swick’s second-round knockout of DaMarques Johnson.

Though the reported figure equals the mark set by UFC on Fox 3, the UFC on Fox 4 broadcast still fell short of the promotion’s first two efforts on the network, which netted 5.7 and 4.7 million viewers in November and January, respectively. Headlined by a heavyweight championship main event between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez, UFC on Fox 1 still holds the viewership record for a live MMA broadcast on network TV, breaking the previous mark of 4.85 million viewers set in 2008 by the CBS-broadcast EliteXC “Primetime.”

Saturday’s preliminary card on Fuel TV averaged 194,000 viewers, according to Sherdog.com’s source.

The reported figure easily tops the previous high for a preliminary card broadcast on Fuel TV, which was set when UFC on FX 1 attracted 148,000 viewers in January. The program also marked a high for preliminary broadcasts in the series, topping both the second and third UFC on Fox installments, which earned 144,000 and 86,000 viewers, respectively. The UFC on Fox 1 prelims were not broadcast on Fuel TV but were instead streamed live on Facebook.