Once thought to be the future of the UFC, Ryan Bader (above) finds himself in a must-win situation entering his fight with Jason Brilz at UFC 139. (AP)

Nine months ago, Ryan Bader was the future of the UFC. He was undefeated, under 30 and taking on fellow up-and-comer Jon Jones. Bader lost the bout while Jones went on to become the UFC’s youngest champion a month later. Bader lost his next fight too,  falling to Tito Ortiz, and now the 28-year-old finds himself on the UFC 139 undercard against Jason Brilz. Both fighters need a victory to avoid a three-fight losing streak.

“He’s still one of the up-and-comers,” said UFC middleweight Aaron Simpson, one of Bader’s MMA training partners and the guy who recruited and coached him as a wrestler at Arizona State. “He’s still pretty new to the sport.”

Bader, Simpson, heavyweight Cain Velasquez and middleweight C.B. Dollaway all started serious MMA training between 2006 and ’07. Dollaway, Bader and Velasquez — the 184, 197, and heavyweight wrestlers, respectively — graduated from Arizona State in 2006. Simpson, the coach of ASU’s upperweights, helped the trio become part of the sixth-best wrestling team in the country — and probably the scariest team to disagree with in an argument. All four (Simpson says he’s “not your typical 37-year-old”) are now fighting in the UFC.

“I don’t want to have a 9-to-5 job; I’ve been an athlete my whole life,” Bader said. “I like going into the gym and getting better every day.”

Bader’s athletic mentality is what got him into MMA, but it might also be the cause of his current losing streak. Bader admits he has a “you can never get enough” training attitude that he picked up while wrestling. According to Simpson, the light heavyweight has to be forced to take time off to let his body recover and was “run down” going into his last two fights.

“I don’t think that was the real him out there,” Simpson said. “As a coach I’ve learned it’s not just working hard, it’s working smart. I think he’s just now learning that.”

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Junior dos Santos knocked out Cain Velasquez in just 64 seconds at UFC on Fox on Saturday. (AP)

Out of the gate, UFC on Fox is looking very much like a hot stock.

Initial ratings from Saturday’s broadcast indicated a modest success in viewership with an audience of 4.64 million viewers, a figure in the ballpark of the second CBS-televised fight-night that featured Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. But Fox issued a release on Sunday stating 5.7 million households tuned in to watch Junior Dos Santos club Cain Velasquez to win the heavyweight title.

The initial numbers for FOX said Saturday’s event was only second to ABC’s broadcast of the college football game between Oregon vs. Stanford in adults 18-49 and tied the game with a 7 share in that age group. FOX’s revised numbers projected it to win its time slot in adults 18-34, adults 18-49 and men 18-34. UFC on FOX also beat the numbers for the first MMA event on network television, the Kimbo Slice-led “EliteXC: Primetime,” FOX said.

These are the demographics for which advertisers pay, and they complement FOX’s track record of success in attracting young viewers. The network said it didn’t have much trouble selling ad time for UFC on FOX, same as CBS didn’t for EliteXC when Slice or Fedor Emelianenko or Gina Carano was involved. They were sellouts, and that spells longevity.

But it also brings us to a key question moving forward. Will the numbers garnered by a high-profile fight such as Velasquez vs. Dos Santos still hold when a title isn’t at stake, or when the wattage of an event’s marquee stars is lower? CBS saw a steep drop-off in ratings in cards not packaged with bankable properties such as Slice and Fedor.

This much is sure: The promotion leading into UFC on FOX is a tremendously encouraging sign. The network pushed the show in a big way. What we’ll find out now is whether FOX’s stellar support is enough to drive viewers to future UFC events broadcast on the network. It’s a tough market out there. MMA fans have become choosy with all the product to watch.

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Junior Dos Santos scored a first-round knockout of Cain Velasquez in 64 seconds. (Jason Redmond/AP)

What does the Ultimate Fighting Championship look like on live network television? We got a taste of it Saturday when Fox aired the UFC heavyweight championship between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. For fight fans, this was a pinnacle moment — a chance to share the very best of the sport they love with co-workers, friends and family who’d never watched it before. The fight lasted only 64 seconds, but there was much more than that to glean from this historical broadcast. Here are my observations …

Strong start out of the blocks

Fox Sports Media Group CEO David Hill wasn’t kidding when he told reporters earlier this week the network would add a cheeky viewer warning to the telecast. You knew you were going to be watching something different when Fox flashed this at the top of the hour: