Bellator 144 does organization's lowest TV ratings of year

Friday night's Bellator championship fight where Rafael Carvalho hit a liver kick out of nowhere to upset Brandon Halsey for the vacant middleweight title drew the lowest ratings of the Scott Coker era with 555,000 viewers.

Bellator was third among live sports events Friday night, trailing the Royals win over the Jays that got them into the World Series. The baseball game did 5,626,000 viewers on FS 1, among the largest audiences in the history of the station, and a Memphis vs. Tulsa college football game on ESPN, that did 1,216,000 viewers.

During the Coker era, Bellator averaged 657,000 viewers for comparable regular shows, not including the tentpole events. For overall ratings, including the bigger shows, the Coker era is 13 percent ahead of the previous regime.

The previous lowest mark was 565,000 on Feb. 13, for a show headlined by Alexander Shlemenko vs. Melvin Manhoef.

Bellator's next event is Nov. 6 from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, the company's last tentpole event of the year, so it would be expected to do significantly better numbers. Patricio "Pitbull" Freire vs. Daniel Straus for the featherweight title, and Will Brooks vs. Marcin Held for the lightweight title, are the dual headliners for a show that also includes top lightweight contender Michael Chandler and historical ratings mover Bobby Lashley, whose original fame came from pro wrestling.