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For all of the hand-wringing over Bellator MMA's decision to book Kimbo Slicevs. Dada 5000 and Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie III, the ironic enjoyment of low-quality MMA from the two feature fights, and for all of the furious post-fight debate over whether or not Kimbo vs. Dada should've been booked given the physical condition of the latter, there's one undeniable fact out of Friday night's event: A lot of people watched the card.
Sports TV Ratings reports an average of nearly 2 million viewers for Bellator 149, which makes it far and away the highest rated Bellator broadcast in the promotion's history.
Details on peak viewership and a ratings breakdown by time-slot will be known at a later date.
The previous highest average for a Bellator MMA show was approximately 1.6 million viewers for Bellator 138, headlined by ... Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock. An average of 2.1 million tuned in for the main event, which Slice won by 1st round TKO.
Chances are good that last Friday's card peaked during Kimbo vs. Dada 5000, which Slice won via 3rd round TKO.
LINK: Bellator 149 averages nearly 2 million viewers in record-breaking Spike TV broadcast