'The Ultimate Fighter: Live' ratings: Episode No. 6 averages 1 million viewers
by John Morgan on Apr 16, 2012 at 5:35 pm ET

Ratings for the sixth episode of "The Ultimate Fighter: Live" were up slightly and resulted in an average audience of 1 million viewers, which marks the second smallest audience of the season.

Friday's episode, which featured the season's fifth opening-round matchup, followed the 947,000 viewers who tuned in for the fifth episode.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the figures with an industry source.

"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" features UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and former WEC titleholder Urijah Faber as opposing coaches. Following a two-and-a-half-hour debut episode in which an initial group of 32 was whittled down to 16, the series continues with a fight each week. After pre-taped content, the lightweights-only show concludes with a live fight.

In the sixth episode, Team Faber took its first lead of the season series at 3-2, with Joe Proctor earning a first-round submission win over Team Cruz's Chris Tickle.

Spike TV began airing "TUF" in early 2005, but as part of the UFC's mega-deal with FOX, the series moved to FX in 2012. With the move to FX, Spike TV is now counter-programming the live shows with "The Ultimate Fighter Fridays," which features past episodes of the show.

This past Friday, however, Spike TV aired a replay of "Rambo III," which earned 796,000 viewers.

The "TUF: Live" episode-by-episode ratings include:
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 1: 1.3 million viewers
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 2: 1.1 million viewers
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 3: 1.2 million viewers
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 4: 1.1 million viewers
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 5: 947,000 viewers
"The Ultimate Fighter: Live" episode No. 6: 1 million viewers