The Ultimate Fighter was what put the UFC on the map, but in recent years the success in ratings for the show have dipped and the UFC realized it.

For the 22nd season of the show, UFC brass put two of their more popular stars as coaches on the show. While they won’t be fighting each other, both interim UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber have been going at it (trash talk) leading up to the show to promote and hype the show.

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On Wednesday, McGregor bought the show back to life as the superstar brings attention to anything (and we mean anything) that he is a part of.

The debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter 22 peaked at 745,000 viewers. This episode was the most-watched season debut on FOX Sports 1 since the fall of 2013. The fall of 2013 season was coached by Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.

Wednesday’s episode averaged 622,000 viewers over the first airing, with an additional 66,000 watching the encore replay. It was the most-watched show on FOX Sports 1 for the night.

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This season’s Ultimate Fighter continues with 11 more episodes airing Wednesdays (10:00 PM ET) on FOX Sports 1. The season finale takes place on FOX Sports 1 on Friday, December 11, headlined by former lightweight champion and current second-ranked featherweight Frankie Edgar taking on Faber teammate, No. 3 Chad Mendes.

Andrew Ravens
Andrew Ravens has been writing about combat sports since 2013 and has been a fan for over ten years! Andrew brings a different style to his work with an insider look into the fighters themselves.