Bellator
Season four finale in Bellator 45 brings 264,000 viewers, sets MTV2 record in key MMA demographic
May 24, 2011 - 5:10:23 PM Season four finale in Bellator 45 brings 264,000 viewers, sets MTV2 record in key MMA demographic

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

After setting a record for MTV2's Saturday night timeslot with over 300,000 viewers last week for Bellator 44, Bellator Fighting Championships closed out their fourth season with their second strongest overall showing on the cable station this past Saturday night.

Bellator 45, which featured the season four featherweight tournament and light heavyweight tournament finals, brought in an average of 264,000, according to figures emailed to MMATorch on Tuesday.

Patricio "Pitbull" Freire and Christian M'Pumbu were the night's big winners, with Freire earning a second shot against Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren with a decision win over Daniel Straus and M'Pumbu finishing Richard Hale in the third round to become the first Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion.

The two-hour telecast peaked with 360,000 viewers at 9:30PM ET, and the broadcast as a whole set a record in some key MMA demographics for MTV2. The broadcast brought season-high ratings in the men 18-34 (.4) and men 18-49 (.33) demographics, and in fact the rating was the highest for the men 18-49 demographic in the history of MTV2.

Bellator returns to MTV2 on June 25 with Bellator 46, kicking off their three event "Summer Series" with the quarterfinals of a summer featherweight tournament.

Penick's Analysis: The numbers stayed strong with their third straight unopposed week, and MTV2 is ecstatic with the numbers Bellator brings for this timeslot compared to what they had there before. But again, this is with no outside competition and the final two events of this season, and there's no telling where numbers will go from here. There was no rhyme or reason to Bellator's ratings in season four, which saw fluctuations between numbers like the last two weeks and barely scraping 100,000 viewers for others. A 12-week Saturday night season makes it really difficult for MMA fans to catch every event, but when there's no other competition from the MMA landscape they're able to get a bit of a boost. Still, while the ratings are excellent for the network, it remains to be seen how Bellator is handling the financial situation on their end, and whether those fluctuating numbers bring enough revenue for the organization to remain viable as they continue to run small venues with small gates.