The World Series of Fighting will return on Saturday for the first time since its network television debut on NBC last month as World Series of Fighting 12 will come from Las Vegas and will be shown live on NBCSN at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
The promotions network debut was classified as a success not only for the World Series of Fighting, but also a success for NBC.
The fight card went up against heavy sports programming in the World Cup and Wimbledon. Even with the tough sports competition, the fight card had an average viewership of 781,000 in the final ratings and peak at over 900,000.
With the network television debut in the books, the promotion will look to continue their rise in terms of television ratings when they return to NBCSN on Saturday night. In 2014, every World Series of Fighting event has shown improved ratings after a rough stretch last year when they had decreased viewership for three straight events.
All of their fight cards on NBCSN in 2014 have drawn over 200,000 viewers in the ratings and the last fight card on NBCSN (WSOF 10) saw their biggest viewership numbers on the cable sports network with 365,000 viewers. The previous high in viewership for a live World Series of Fighting event came in the summer of last year as World Series of Fighting 4 drew 264,000 viewers.
Will the World Series of Fighting be able to continue the rise of viewership of their cards on NBCSN on Saturday night? This could be very tough for the promotion as they will be competing with baseball, NFL preseason, and boxing on Showtime for the sports viewer. Also, there does not appear to be much buzz for Saturday’s fight card online at this time and this is coming from someone who runs a mixed martial arts news website.
World Series of Fighting 12 will be headlined by lightweight bout as Lewis Gonzalez will look to remain undefeated and potentially secure a title shot as he meets Luis Palomino. Without searching for both fighters online, how many fans would know who Gonzalez or Palomino are? Some fans may remember Palomino from his days in Bellator or Gonzalez was scheduled to face Justin Gaethje earlier this year, but neither fighter is a household name.
Throughout all of the World Series of Fighting events, there has been a household names on the card. Whether it was Andrei Arlovski, Anthony Johnson, Tyrone Spong, Marlon Moraes, Josh Burkman, Gaethje, Jon Fitch, or Rousimar Palahres. However, this card does not have it. This is a card that has several unknown fighters to the majority of mixed martial arts fans like Gonzalez, Cully Butterfield, Kelvin Tiller, Brandon Hempleman, and Bryson Hansen.
If you have been watching mixed martial arts for some time, you know that a fight card can not be judged on paper. How many times have we looked at a fight card on paper and thought, “well maybe this will not be a good fight card to watch?” I am sure there are some people that are looking at this World Series of Fighting and thinking that same thought.
Let’s remember, throughout the short history of the World Series of Fighting, the promotion has always shown to put on exciting and entertaining fight cards. Due to the history of the promotion, I expect to be entertained as I cover the fight card for TheMMAReport.com.
Maybe I will end up being wrong, but my gut tells me that we will all be entertained by the fights on Saturday night at World Series of Fighting 12 in Las Vegas.