Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson break ratings record

Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson is the 4th most viewed fight in MMA

Win or lose, people tune in to watch Kimbo Slice when he fights on tv.  According to MMAWeekly, the Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson fight became the 4th most viewed MMA fight ever.

Despite Kimbo showing little progress in his MMA skills and Nelson providing little excitement in the victory, the initial broadcast of the episode pulled in an average of 5.3 million viewers for the entire 60-minute broadcast, according to Spike TV vice president Brian Diamond. For the fight itself, the final 15 minutes of the show, the average rose dramatically to 6.1 million viewers for that time period. That means that the number of viewers tuning in for the actual fight increased substantially in order to raise the episode average to 5.3 million viewers

Diamond on Thursday repeatedly stated that the episode provided the highest ratings that Spike TV has ever pulled in its key demographics of 18-to-35-Year-Old Males and 18-to-49-Year-Old Males. In the 18-to-35-Year-Old-Males category, the episode pulled a stunning 6.81 rating, while the 18-to-49-Year-Old-Males drew a 5.43 rating.

Of course Kimbo lost the fight to Roy Nelson.  However, those are absolutely incredible numbers and if you compare it with the numbers of programming on network tv it’s even more incredible.  To put it in perspective, “Eastwick” on ABC had 6.62 million viewers, but ABC is available in about 30 million more homes than Spike.  The only problem is that Kimbo Slice the fighter has major holes in his game, so it’ll be interesting to see how the UFC matches him up from here on out.  If they can match him up with someone beatable but also credible, then they have a ratings gold mine.  However, too many losses could spell disaster.  He lost on national television in front of millions is less than a minute to an absolute nobody in Seth Petruzelli, yet he still continues to be a major draw.  Could the UFC allow Kimbo to goto Strikeforce if they cut him for losing too many fights?

Popularity: 1%