Bellator 290 Main Card Attracts More Than 1 Million Viewers to CBS

Bellator MMA’s debut on CBS averaged 1.068 million viewers on Saturday night, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

The Bellator 290 broadcast lasted a little more than two hours and concluded with Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell bout against heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in the evening’s main event. Bader won the fight via first-round technical knockout. The card also saw Johnny Eblen retain his middleweight belt with a five-round verdict over Anatoly Tokov in the co-headliner, while Brennan Ward scored a second-round TKO against Sabah Homasi in the opening bout.

The event drew a 0.18 rating in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. By comparison, that was better than college basketball on Fox, which drew 567,000 viewers and a 0.10 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic. However, it fell short of the Golden State-Dallas NBA game on ABC, which averaged 2.36 million viewers and drew a 0.57 share in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Television ratings have dipped from previous years in large part due to the presence of multiple streaming services. That was also the case for Bellator 290, which was simulcast on Paramount+. Ratings were not available for that portion of the broadcast. As a result, Bellator 290 fell short of previous MMA broadcasts on CBS, including Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Rogers” in 2008 (4.042 million viewers) and Strikeforce “Nashville” in 2010 (2.9 million viewers).

It is unclear if Bellator will air any future events on CBS. The promotion currently airs the majority of its events on Showtime, which is expected to merge with Paramount+ in the coming months.