Bellator’s card in Ireland lost a main event, and was on tape delay on Spike TV. That unlucky combination normally means low ratings, with Dave Meltzer saying it was expected to draw just around 450,000 viewers.
Bellator 187 was a special case though, and things changed with Conor McGregor’s unexpected meltdown that saw him jump the cage, shove a referee and slap a Bellator official. There was a media frenzy after the scuffle, and the promotion also used the incident to market the tape delayed broadcast. For the most part, it worked.