Bellator Fighting Championships fifth season penned another erratic chapter on Saturday with Bellator 55. According to early reports from MMA Junkie, viewership for the bantamweight tournament semi-finals dipped to 168,000 viewers for its initial broadcast on MTV2, a steady decline from the 185,000 viewers of Bellator 54. To compound matters, numbers for the immediate replay plunged even sharper, dropping off to just 45,000 viewers.
The fall in ratings is surprising given the state of the MMA landscape over the weekend. With the UFC again on the shelf, Bellator 55 was easily the biggest combat sports event taking place on Saturday. Even factoring in the effect simulcast college football has on viewership, the poor showing is not a good omen for Bellator's immediate future as Zuffa revs up for four major shows in four weeks.
Bellator 55 was held on October 22th at the Cocopah Resort and Casino in Yuma, Arizona and headlined by a pair of semi-final matchups that saw Alexis Vila and Eduardo Dantas pick up split decision victories to move on to the season five bantamweight finale.
Ratings rankings of MTV2-televised Bellator shows:
Bellator 44: 325,000 viewers
Bellator 47: 277,000 viewers
Bellator 52: 269,000 viewers
Bellator 45: 264,000 viewers
Bellator 49: 235,000 viewers
Bellator 36: 230,000 viewers
Bellator 48: 226,000 viewers
Bellator 40: 218,000 viewers
Bellator 35: 200,000 viewers
Bellator 42: 199,000 viewers
Bellator 54: 185,000 viewers
Bellator 46: 185,000 viewers
Bellator 43: 182,000 viewers
Bellator 39: 174,000 viewers
Bellator 37: 173,000 viewers
Bellator 55: 168,000 viewers
Bellator 51: 158,000 viewers
Bellator 38: 150,000 viewers
Bellator 41: 132,000 viewers
Bellator 50: 114,000 viewers
Bellator 53: 103,000 viewers