Kimbo Slice defeats Brock Lesnar.. In Tuf ratingsApril 1, 2011 by Joe Rocha

In a surprising revelation, the UFC’s top pay-per-view seller, Brock Lesnar premiering on ‘The Ultimate Fighter‘ 13 did not surpass season 10 of the show in viewership numbers (via Spike) as many analyst in the sport believed it would. In fact the TUF 13 premiere is showing the lowest ratings in the history of the show.

Season 1 – 1.42
Season 2 – 1.8
Season 3- 1.95
Season 4 – 1.7
Season 5 – 1.4
Season 6 – 1.5
Season 7 – 1.3
Season 8 – 1.2
Season 9 – 1.34
Season 10 – 2.2 ~ 2.9 million viewers (Kimbo Slice debut)
Season 11 – 1.5 ~ 1.9 million viewers
Season 12 – 1.3 ~ 1.6 million viewers
Season 13 – 1.0 ~ 1.5 million viewers (Lesnar coaching)

Two factors come to mind when seeing the low viewership. The UFC did not have a Fight Night card coincide with the premiere as they usually do. Secondly, the new time may have not been the best time slot for the show as the ratings showed 633,000 viewers watching the replay of the episode at 9 p.m. ET.

Whatever the case, TUF did still show to be the highest-rated cable program in its timeslot in its demographic of men 18-49.