By Sean Farrell

Bellator’s season-four debut event netted 200,000 viewers for MTV2’s live broadcast, and the immediate replay maintained 63.5 percent of the original audience with 127,000 fans tuning in. These figures represent a massive boom in MMA’s main demographic they have targeted. Bellator 35’s ratings represented an 83% increase in men ages 18 to 49, an 80% rise in men ages 18 to 34 and an astronomical 133% increase in men ages 25 to 34.

The demographic, which has been targeted, is obviously taking note and MMA is continuing its impressive growth. This percentage spike should lead to more MMA events being held on traditional television networks such as CBS and NBC, who previously have dipped a toe into the MMA waters.

Bellator 35 took place this past Saturday at Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California and featured the four quarterfinal matchups of Bellator’s season-four welterweight tournament. Lyman Good, Rick Hawn, Jay Hieron and Brent Weedman all earned victories and advanced to the tournament’s semifinals.

While this was going on the second hour of the broadcast went head-to-head with Showtime’s live broadcast of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson an even that drew over 400,000 viewers.

The Bellator 35 broadcast peaked with 231,000 viewers, the event gave the network its best time-period performance among the main demographic of men ages 25 to 34 years old in one year and largest viewership of men ages 18 to 49 years old since October of 2010. Bellator’s fourth season is the promotion’s first to air on MTV2, The organization’s first season aired on ESPN Deportes, and season two and three aired on FOX Sports Net.

Bellator is holding an event every Saturday of this month; expect MTV2 to receive the similar or increased numbers throughout the month.

If the NBA and NFL lock out, MMA looks to be the sport which will officially get its push into the mainstream and eventually steal some of that TV time shared by the NFL,NBA,MLB, and NHL and solidify itself as the elite sport. If my theory holds true this will happen and that theory is, “If your stopped at an intersection and see kids on one corner playing football, kids on another corner throwing a baseball, kids on the third corner shooting hoops, and kids on the fourth corner throwing punches and landing takedowns in a fight which are you going watch?”

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