The UFC's first-ever event on Versus, "UFC on Versus 1: Vera vs. Jones," held this past Sunday in Broomfield, Colo., drew 1.24 million viewers, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed.

UFC on Versus 1 marked the first event on the cable channel available to the 18 million homes serviced by DirecTV after a six-and-a-half-month service interruption due to a dispute over carrier fees.

The ratings included a 1.66 rating in the males 18-34 demographic, as well as a 1.21 figure in the persons 18-49 category.

The figures represent an astounding 232 percent increase from the 373,000 viewers that tuned in for the UFC's sister promotion, World Extreme Cagefighting, on March 6 for "WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz."

The WEC's last event before Versus was dropped from DirecTV, "WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles," held in August 2009, drew 670,000 viewers.

While the 1.24 million viewers for UFC on Versus 1 represents a significant increase from the channel's average WEC viewership, the number ranks the event as only the third most-watched MMA event in the channel's history.

"WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver," which took place in June 2008, drew 1.54 million viewers, while "WEC 41: Brown vs. Faber II" drew 1.3 million viewers in June 2009.

In comparison to the UFC's recent live-event broadcasts on its primary cable-television partner, Spike TV, UFC on Versus 1 fell short.

The UFC on Versus 1 audience size is a 27 percent decrease from the 1.7 million viewers that tuned into January's "UFC Fight Night 20: Maynard vs. Diaz" event, and less than half of the 2.5 million viewers that tuned into September 2009's "UFC Fight Night 19: Diaz vs. Guillard." UFC Fight Night 19 is the second-largest audience to ever watch a UFC Fight Night event.

At the UFC on Versus 1 post-event press conference, Versus president Jamie Davis said the channel will host its second event, UFC on Versus 2, on Aug. 1.