UFC Card Earns Second-Best Overnight For Telecasts On Fox

UFC on Fox 5 earned a 2.8 overnight Nielsen rating on Saturday night, marking the second-best overnight for the MMA outfit’s telecasts on Fox to date, behind a 3.5 for UFC on Fox 1 in November '11. Saturday night’s telecast was up 65% from UFC on Fox 4, which aired in August up against the London Games. UFC on Fox 5 peaked at a 3.6 rating from 10:00-10:30pm ET for the main event between Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz. Las Vegas led all markets with a 6.3 local rating, followed by Louisville (5.0) and Sacramento (4.7) (THE DAILY).

Meanwhile, Fox during the Henderson-Diaz bout "repeatedly cut away to a shot of the empty octagon" because Diaz "threw up the middle finger at his opponent" several times. The net cut away "instead of risking a fine" from the FCC (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 12/9).