(“Hey, is this one of those kiss cams? Because if it is, I invite Dana White to come KISS MY ASS.” Photo via Getty.)
“At the end of the day, the person who laughs last, laughs loudest and hardest. And that’s me.” — Jacob Christopher Ortiz
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Tito Ortiz is an entrepreneurial genius who has been working one over on us since at least 1999. What? You thought he was just making that whole “I Put an Undercover Double Agent in Stephan Bonnar’s Training Camp” stuff just for the sake of making stuff up? You ignorant sluts. Tito Ortiz knows what audiences eat up. He watches Scandal. He knows that the only thing MMA fans love more than a grudge match is a grudge match with a twisty, turny backstory, and he manipulated us like a blob of silly putty in the palm of his hand. And don’t you feel like dum-dums now.
What am I blabbering on about? Oh, just that the ratings figures are in from last weekend trifecta of MMA events and Bellator 131 CRUSHED IT, setting a live gate and attendance record for the promotion and shattering a heap of viewership records as well. From a press release sent out earlier today:
Bellator 131 knocked out the competition on Saturday, November 15 with record ratings for the emerging MMA franchise under new president Scott Coker. The Bellator 131 main event between Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar (11:50pm-12:16am) drew 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2 million, making it the most-watched and highestrated MMA fight on cable in 2014.
The Ortiz-Bonnar fight ranks as 2nd highest-rated MMA fight telecast in all of television with Men 18-34 and Men 18-49, including broadcast, in 2014. Also, Ortiz-Bonnar ranked #2 in its timeslot in all of cable with Men 18-34 and Men 18-49.
Overall, the entire fight card delivered (9:00-12:16) delivered 1,241,299 viewers, a record for Bellator MMA on Spike TV.
YOU HEAR THAT, DANA? Old, dumb, big-headed Tito Ortiz can still put asses in seats, and here your UFC 180 prelims only pulled in a measly 624k viewers. Please, tell us more about the how the UFC is totally succeeding in their quest to create new stars. WAHAHAHAHAAA!!!
On a serious note, this has to be a huge boost of confidence fr Bellator. Their first true event under Scott Coker was a massive success, and with the acquisition of prospects like Aaron Pico and an anticipated move back to a one show a month schedule, it’s looking pretty bright for the #2 promotion in MMA. If only the same could be said for World Series of Fighting.
So laugh all you want, h8ers who never believed in Tito like *I* did. Laugh at the seemingly ridiculous taco-eating contests and scavenger hunts used to promote Bellator 131. Laugh at Justin McCully, his masks, and that in-ring brawl that was totally legit and in no way staged. Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar was the highest rated MMA event on cable in 2014, and the most watched fight in Bellator history.
Laugh all you want, but know that there’s only one man laughing louder than you…
