At one point the idea of Fedor Emelianenko fighting Rampage Jackson on free television would have been expected to do huge ratings, probably upwards of 1.5 million viewers even a few years ago.
But, likely due to the monster numbers of the Clemson vs. Ohio State college football championship semifinals, a live show from the historic Saitama Super Arena on Saturday night, that also featured stars like Michael Chandler and Michael “Venom” Page, only averaged 311,000 viewers.
The football game did 20,393,000 viewers head-to-head.
Even though the fight itself was sad, given Jackson coming in at 265 pounds and barely touching Emelianenko before being put down in the first round, they are still two major names who both have long histories of drawing strong television ratings.