By Lynn Mitchell:
The 7 year deal UFC with FOX has caused an increase from approximately 30 million homes to 36 million in the past few months.  The UFC programming played a big role in which has set ratings records for the sports-oriented station.

UFC on FUEL TV 2 Gustafsson vs Silva averaged 197,000 viewers. Its predecessor scored 217,000 viewers.

Despite the slight decrease in total viewership from February’s UFC on FUEL TV 1 event, this past weekend’s card actually marked the largest viewership in FUEL TV history in the channel’s designated target market, men 18-49.

The evening’s peak viewership, which came during the main event, saw 298,000 viewers watching the event.

UFC on FUEL TV 2, which is the second of six main-card broadcasts planned for the FOX-owned cable station in 2012, took place April 14 at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena. After six prelims on Facebook, the three-hour FUEL TV broadcast featured six bouts, including Alexander Gustafsson’s impressive decision win over Thiago Silva and Brian Stann’s stunning knockout of Alessio Sakara.

“After our spring break, we’re excited to welcome back the UFC with new live fights on FUEL TV,” FUEL TV exec George Greenberg stated. “Our second live ‘Fight Night’ delivered numbers right in line with our first. We’re enthusiastic for the upcoming schedule through the spring, summer and fall, and we know audiences will keep coming to FUEL TV for live UFC action, as well as key shoulder programming.”

These figures mark an astonishing increase in viewers of 1,320 percent versus the April 2011 average.  Despite the event dipping slightly from the channel’s debut event, the card still earned a few record figures for FUEL TV.

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