What the figures didn’t show though was the ratings from 11pm-11.30pm when the main event of the evening between Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers was shown.

Those figures are starting to emerge this Tuesday, and sportsbusinessdaily.com is reporting that the average viewers for the entire show including the main event now stands at 4.042 million viewers, giving a final Neilson rating of 2.5.

As expected the main event, which had been the most heavily promoted in the days leading up to the fight by CBS and was highly anticipated by MMA fans, did help to push up the overall average viewing figures for the evening.

Some 5.46 million viewers tuned between 11pm-11.15pm in to see Fedor defeat Brett Rogers, a figure that is sure to be met with a positive response from both Strikeforce and CBS.

Having said that it still doesn’t match the peak of 6.51 million for last years EliteXC debut, though that was largely due to the presence of Kimbo Slice.

Compare Strikeforce’s final results with the EliteXC events that aired last year on the station below…

First EliteXC on CBS: Averaged 4.85 million viewers
Second EliteXC on CBS: Averaged 2.57 million
Third EliteXC on CBS: Averaged 4.56 million

First Strikeforce Event On CBS: Averaged 4.042 milion

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Here’s a further breakdown of the stats from Saturday nights event from the official press release:

“The main event of CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS featuring Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers reached 5.46 million viewers while drawing impressive young adult and male demographic ratings, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings from 11:00-11:15 PM on Saturday, Nov. 7. The demographic ratings include a 3.5/10 in men 25-54, 3.3/11 in men 18-49 and 3.1/12 in men 18-34, 2.5/7 rating in adults 25-54, 2.4/8 in adults 18-49 and 2.4/09 in adults 18-34.”

“For the entire broadcast, CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS (S) (9:00-11:24PM) averaged 4.04m viewers, winning its time period among adults 18-34 and men 18-34, and delivering ratings significantly higher than the Network’s season to date averages in the time period among young adult and male demos. The ratings include a 1.8/06 in adults 18-49, 1.8/07 in adults 18-34, 2.6/07 in men 25-54, 2.5/08 in men 18-49 and 2.3/09 in men 18-34.”

“Compared to CBS’s 9:00-11:00PM season-to-date averages, CBS SATURDAY NIGHT FIGHTS was up +38% in adults 18-49 (from 1.3/04), +125% in adults 18-34 (from 0.8/03), +117% in men 25-54 (from 1.2/03), +178% in men 18-49 (from 0.9/03) and +283% in men 18-34 (from 0.6/02).”

“The main event was unbelievable – one of the best fights I’ve ever seen. I think this fight will go down in the history of MMA,” he said.

He also made a significant point of praising the loser in the fight, Brett Rogers.

“Brett Rogers did an amazing job, He proved to me that he’s a complete fighter, not just a puncher.”

Watch the full interview below:

Bulgaria: Ring TV
China: Guangdong Television
Finland: Urheilukanava (Finnish Sport Television)
Indonesia: Tiger Gate
Israel: EGO Channel
Japan: m1.gotchamedia.jp
Latin America: HBO Latin America
Malta: Melita TV
New Zealand: Sky Sport New Zealand
Romania: Boom TV
Russia: NTV Plus, Channel One
South Korea: Seoul Broadcasting System
Sub-Saharan Africa: Setanta Sports
Turkey: Digiturk
Ukraine: Megasport
United Kingdom: Bravo
USA: CBS

Alternatively you can pay to stream the event live from: Omnisport.TV (Only available in certain countries).