If an MMA promotion had a curtain-closing card over the weekend, and nobody watched it, did it actually happen? After consecutive events in September and November were canceled following injury after injury, Strikeforce ended their run in Oklahoma City. Their final show on Saturday struggled to garner attention, and MMA Junkie confirms they had very low viewership for their grand finale.
This past weekend’s “Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine” event, which officially signaled the end of the organization, drew one of the smallest audiences in Strikeforce-Showtime history.
Overall, the event averaged a 0.82 household rating and 310,000 viewers, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed with industry sources.
Of the 14 “major shows” on Showtime from January 2011 to now — basically non-Challengers events — this rated 13th. Only the Barnett vs. Kharitonov card averaged less viewers at 274,000.
This is not surprising at all. Not only was this a card filled with mismatches, scarcely promoted, and plagued with injuries resulting in two lost title fights, it went up against the NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers, which was FOX’s highest-rated Saturday night playoff game in the network’s history. Even with a free-preview weekend there was virtually zero chance of this card being a marginal ratings success, and unfortunately the promotion went out on a low-note.
SBN coverage of Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine