Half A Million More Viewers Tune In To Get More Action From The UFC than the NBA On Thursday, April 13 NEW YORK, NY, April 17, 2006 – The second episode of Spike TV’s hit series, The Ultimate Fighter 3® once again over-powered the NBA in the ratings. Spike TV tallied 1.7 million viewers and a 1.3 HH rating on Thursday, April 13 (10:00-11:00pm ET/PT) compared to 1.2 million viewers and a 1.1 HH rating for TNT’s NBA doubleheader (Knicks vs. Cavaliers/Mavericks vs. Suns). *

The Ultimate Fighter 3 episode was #1 in the key demographic of Men 18-34 on cable that night with a 2.28 rating (597,000), easily out-gaining the NBA with a 0.94 (246,000). The Spike TV telecast was also #1 with Men 18-49 scoring a 1.7 rating (890,000) compared to TNT’s 0.89 (468,000)   

Last week, the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 3 out drew the TNT NBA doubleheader featuring the league’s marquee teams including Pistons vs. Heat/Lakers vs. Nuggets by 600,000 viewers.

In The Ultimate Fighter 3 episode, light heavyweight Noah Inhofer from Yankton, North Dakota defeated Tempe, Arizona’s Jesse Forbes to advance to the semifinals later this season. 

About The Ultimate Fighter 3:

Sixteen of the best up-and-coming mixed martial artists from around the world have convened in Las Vegas in pursuit of one goal -- to be named the "ULTIMATE FIGHTER" and to be given a contract in the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization. UFC legends and bitter rivals Ken Shamrock “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” and Tito Ortiz, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” train and coach the participating light-heavyweights and middleweights. The Ultimate Fighter 3 is hosted by Dana White, UFC President.

Craig Piligian of Pilgrim Films and Television, Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White of Zuffa, LLC, and Kevin Kay of Spike TV are the show’s executive producers. Brian J. Diamond is Vice President, Sports & Specials, Spike TV and Co-Executive Producer. Peter V. Symuleski serves as Executive in Charge of Production for Spike TV.

Spike TV, the first network for men, is available in 90 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks.  MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.