Bellator Season 5 Finale Earns 265,000 Viewers on MTV2

Network officials notified Sherdog.com of the rating on Tuesday afternoon, also noting that a replay of the Saturday night broadcast took in an additional 136,000 viewers. The Bellator 59 average viewership nearly matches the 269,000 viewers drawn by the previous week’s broadcast and ranks fifth-best among the promotion's 2011 offerings on the cable channel.

Featuring the finals of both the bantamweight and heavyweight tournaments, Bellator 59 emanated from Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

While Eduardo Dantas (Pictured) outpointed Alexis Vila to earn a shot at Zach Makovsky’s 135-pound title, the heavyweight tournament finals ended much less decisively. Just 84 seconds into the bout, Thiago Santos landed an accidental kick to Eric Prindle’s groin, rendering Prindle unable to continue and setting up a 2012 rematch to decide Cole Konrad’s next challenger.

Immediately following the Bellator 59 premiere, MTV2 replayed Michael Chandler’s title-winning performance against Eddie Alvarez at last week’s Bellator 58, netting an additional 237,000 observers.