Rory MacDonald’s emphatic beating and eventual rear-naked choke win of Paul Daley marked the Canadian’s debut fight in Bellator MMA. The card took place in London, England last Saturday, with the main card airing on one-hour delay in the UK, and a much longer delay on Spike in North America.
We have info on how the ratings fared on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. MMAjunkie Chamatkar Sandhu reported that Bellator 179 outperformed last year’s Bellator 158: Daley vs. Lima, which was also in London.
Bellator 179 Channel 5 ratings:
Peak = 726k viewers
Average= 452k viewers
Bellator 158 last year:
Peak = 550k viewers
Average = 418k viewers— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) May 24, 2017Meanwhile, Spike’s broadcast averaged 607,000 viewers for its three-hour broadcast from 9 PM ET-12 AM ET.