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Strikeforce Challengers Ratings Hit All-Time Low
by Josh Nason on Nov 22, 2011 8:00 PM EST in Strikeforce News

Not a lot of people tuned in to see Ronda Rousey submit Julia Budd at Strikeforce Challengers last Friday.

While there has still been no announcement regarding the future of Strikeforce, the ratings for last Friday night's Challengers event are in and they're not good.

The November 18th event -- headlined by Lumumba Sayers vs. Antwain Britt and Ronda Rousey vs. Julia Budd -- drew an average of just 143,000 viewers -- the lowest in the history of the series and a drop of 60,000 viewers from their September 23rd Challengers event that featured Lorenz Larkin vs. Nick Rossborough and Lavar Johnson vs. Shawn Jordan.

The Friday show featured Sayers knocking out Britt in just 28 seconds and Rousey submitting Budd in just 39 seconds. Of the five fights that made air, there were first-round finishes in four of them.

The viewership is the lowest since the October 20, 2010, Challengers show headlined by Roger Bowling vs. Bobby Voelker and Lavar Johnson vs. Virgil Zwicker.

Strikeforce has one more event scheduled for 2011 with Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez vs. Jorge Masvidal and Women's Featherweight Champion Cris Santos vs. Hiroko Yamanaka scheduled for Saturday, December 17th. The promotion's contract with Showtime has been said to run out in February 2012 and UFC President Dana White revealed recently that he's taken over negotiations on whether Strikeforce will continue with the network past that date.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/11/22/2581626/strikeforce-challengers-ratings-hit-all-time-low