Bellator
Bellator ratings rebound, Bellator 40 second most-watched event of season four
Apr 12, 2011 - 4:30:55 PM Bellator ratings rebound, Bellator 40 second most-watched event of season four

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Although this week's show overlapped with Strikeforce on Showtime, Bellator Fighting Championships saw a ratings rebound for their 40th event, which aired on MTV2 from the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Okla.

Bellator 40 drew the second highest ratings for a Bellator event on MTV2, bringing in 218,000 viewers, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.

Headlined by Ben Askren's three round decision win over Nick "The Goat" Thompson, the card also featured Jay Hieron and Michael Chandler advance to the season four tournament finals in their respective weight divisions.

Bellator's top rated fight card thus far was the second event of the season, Bellator 36, which brought in 230,000 viewers unopposed by any UFC or Strikeforce events.

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Penick's Analysis: Considering the week before their top ranked fighter Eddie Alvarez brought in only 174,000 viewers unopposed by any other event, this is a good number for Bellator. It's still much higher than what MTV2 was getting in that slot, so the network is happy, but I don't know what type of numbers the organization will need to keep up in the long run to be sustainable. Still, that they could get this type of number when head to head with Strikeforce is a good sign, and the replay even brought in over 190,000 viewers, which is much better than the replays of some of the other events. Bellator again has the weekend to themselves this Saturday, as Bellator 41 comes to MTV2.