Despite a relatively lacklustre card in terms of top names, UFC 95 drew a respectable number of viewers in the U.S. and Canada.

Spike TV, which aired Saturday's event from the O2 Arena in London, England, on same-day tape, had an average television audience of 2.4 million during the three-hour telecast starting at 9 p.m. The viewership figure peaked at three million for the main event, which saw former Ultimate Fighter champion Diego (Nightmare) Sanchez win a decision in his lightweight debut over fellow TUF title-holder Joe (Daddy) Stevenson.

Sportsnet was the only station to show the event live at 3 p.m. ET in Canada, and 97,000 viewers tuned in for it. Another 98,700 saw the replay Saturday night.

The numbers in the U.S. were down only slightly from Spike's last such event from England. UFC 89 in October drew 2.6 million viewers on average, peaking at 3.4 million for the headliner between Britain's Michael Bisping and American Chris Leben, which Bisping won. On Sportsnet in Canada that event, from Birmingham, drew a much larger audience for the live portion (154,600), but only 33,600 watched the replay at 1 a.m.

The UFC has offered its U.K. cards on free TV in North America rather than on pay-per-view more frequently lately because of the time difference.

UFC 95 also set a record for the most aired fights on a Spike telecast. Four of the five undercard bouts were televised for a total of nine bouts shown; the previous high was seven.

According to Spike, the event rated better for men ages 18-34 and 18-49 (drawing 634,000 and 1,244,000 viewers, respectively) than any other television programs -- broadcast or cable -- in its time slot. Spike also said it outdrew all major sports competition in the same demographics on Saturday -- including the Oklahoma-Texas college basketball game on ESPN.