Bellator 51: Great card, no one watched

Is MMA big, or is the UFC big?

For the hardest core devotees of MMA, particularly those who train, the answer is unequivocal. Jokes abound about fans so clueless about the difference that they claim to “trane UFC.”

However, with Dream in Japan struggling to even put on a show, and Strikeforce being purchased by Zuffa, Bellator has become, almost by default, the No. 2 MMA promotion in the world. But no one is watching.

Saturday night Bellator debuted their stacked season five bantamweight tournament, putting on an exciting, evenly matched card (see highlights below). That’s the good news.

The bad news is, it airing at the same time as UFC 135 on PPV, Bellator 51 garnered just 158,000 viewers — the fourth worst showing since the promotion partnered with MTV2. The sole bright news was that it wasn’t as bad as the preceeding Bellator 50, which was the worst ratings to date.

Bellator 44: 325,000 viewers

Bellator 47: 277,000 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 46: 185,000 viewers

Bellator 43: 182,000 viewers

Bellator 39: 174,000 viewers

Bellator 37: 173,000 viewers

Bellator 51: 158,000 viewers

Bellator 38: 150,000 viewers

Bellator 41: 132,000 viewers

Bellator 50: 114,000 viewers

With the number of UFC shows expanding, including an unprecedented plan for two shows in one night, it looks increasingly as if the ‘Trane UFC’ faction is not quite as dumb as believed.