Bellator 170, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen, is the third most watched Bellator event in the promotion’s history.
According to Dave Meltzer, of MMA Fighting, the event averaged 1.374 million viewers last Saturday night. The only two Bellator events to average more viewers were Bellator 138 and Bellator 149. Bellator 138, headlined by Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice, averaged 1.58 million viewers in June 2015. Bellator 149, featuring Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000, holds the record for the most watched Bellator event with 1.964 million viewers on average.
The main event between Ortiz and Sonnen saw the most viewers with 1.85 million viewers, making it the fourth most watched Bellator fight in the promotion’s history.
Ortiz submitted Sonnen in the first round of their fight with a rear-naked choke. Following the win, Ortiz retired from MMA.
After the fight, Sonnen said he will compete again for Bellator and is interested in a fight with Wanderlei Silva. If the two were to fight, it will be interesting to see how many viewers it can pull compared the other most watched fights in Bellator history.
