CBS Releases StrikeForce Broadcast Ratings

November 10, 3:17 PMSan Jose MMA ExaminerPhil Lanides

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StrikeForce CEO Scott Coker
StrikeForce

CBS has released the official ratings from Saturday’s “StrikeForce: Fedor vs. Rogers” broadcast, and it is likely that the promotion has earned a return engagement on the network channel. At its peak, the main event was seen by the eyes of 5.46 million viewers. Overall, the two-plus hour broadcast held an average of almost 4 ½ million viewers, good for a 2.5 rating.

“Saturday Night Fights” won the key 18-24 male and 18-34 adults demographics, and according to MMAWeekly, it was the 9th highest-rated MMA broadcast in history. Conversely, EliteXC’s CBS broadcasts that had Kimbo Slice as the headliner did slightly viewership numbers (4.85 million viewers in May 2008, 4.56 million viewers in October 2008). In regards to a future StrikeForce broadcast on CBS, StrikeForce CEO Scott Coker told MMAJunkie, “Those are decisions that will be made next week once we've had a chance ... to look at the numbers.”

Earlier today, UFC President Dana White commented on the broadcast to the L.A. Times. His remarks, as would be expected, were less than complimentary: “CBS would be out of their mind to put that rinky-dink [Strikeforce] . . . on the air again . . . and without that backing, [promoters] won't have the money to pay [Emelianenko]. Fedor just got his face smashed in by Brett Rogers. Do you know what Brock or Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do to Brett Rogers? It's time to bring this guy [Fedor] in, to see Brock Lesnar smash his head.”