Episode 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter 15” drew an average of 948,000 viewers to FX, according to an industry source.
“The Ultimate Fighter” began airing on Spike in 2005 and remained on the network through last year. When the Ultimate Fighting Championship joined forces with Fox, the series moved to FX in 2012.
Featuring UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and former WEC featherweight king Urijah Faber as rival coaches, “TUF 15” is the first iteration of the reality series to feature live fights at the end of each show. Due to the live format, taping has been extended from six weeks in previous installments to 13 weeks for the current season.
Friday featured the first two lightweight quarterfinal matchups: Team Cruz’s James Vick defeated Team Faber’s Joe Proctor via unanimous decision, while Team Faber’s Mike Chiesa stopped Team Cruz’s Justin Lawrence with strikes at 1:02 of the third frame. Two more quarterfinal bouts will take place this week: Chris Saunders will face Vinc Pinchel, and Al Iaquinta meets Andy Ogle.