Saturday’s star-studded World Series of Fighting Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event that aired live on NBC Sports Network will re-air on the network 12 times in just a 30-day span, beginning on Saturday, March 30 at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST.
“We are coming off an outstanding night of world-class MMA action and are thrilled that our television partner, NBC Sports Network, has embraced the World Series of Fighting product to such an extent that they are going to showcase our latest event a dozen times over the course of the next month,” said World Series of Fighting President and six-time world kickboxing champion and two-time Hall of Famer Ray Sefo.
The complete, 30-day NBC Sports Network re-air schedule of the event, which took place at Revel in Atlantic City, N.J. is as follows:
Saturday, March 30 9:00 p.m. EST/6:00 p.m. PST
Saturday, March 30 11:30 p.m. EST/8:30 p.m. PST
Tuesday, April 2 12:00 a.m. EST/9:00 p.m. PST
Friday, April 5 8:30 p.m. EST/5:30 p.m. PST
Saturday, April 6 10:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. PST
Saturday, April 6 12:00 a.m. EST/9:00 p.m. PST
Tuesday, April 9 12:00 a.m. EST/9:00 p.m. PST
Thursday, April 18 12:00 a.m. EST/9:00 p.m. PST
Satu! rday, April 20 8:30 p.m. EST/5:30 p.m. PST
Thursday, April 25 12:00 a.m. EST/9:00 p.m. PST
Saturday, April 27 1:00 a.m. EST/10:00 p.m. PST
Monday, April 29 8:30 p.m. EST/5:30 p.m. PST
Monday, April 29 10:30 p.m. EST/7:30 p.m. PST
Monday, April 29 12:30 a.m. EST/9:30 p.m. PST
Saturday’s live event peaked with 332,000 NBC Sports Network viewers, a sharp increase of 46 percent from the inaugural World Series of Fighting event in November that peaked with 228,000 viewers.
World Series of Fighting’s sophomore event also averaged 210,000 live viewers, a 6 percent increase from the first event that averaged 198,000 viewers.
The live viewership increase was achieved despite the extraordinary challenge of World Series of Fighting going head-to-head on television with the highly-anticipated NCAA men’s basketball tournament game between No. 1 seed Gonzaga University and No. 9 seed Wichita State University.
Additionally, Sunday’s initial re-broadcast of the latest, five-bout TV card garnered 140,000 viewers, an increase of 75 percent from the first re-broadcast of the promotion’s debut event.
In the heavyweight main event, powerhouse Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (16-3) of Boca Raton, Fla. exchanged bombs with fellow superstar Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovksi (18-10) of Minsk, Belarus for three rounds before Johnson earned a unanimous decision.
In the bantamweight (135 pounds) co-main event, two-time national Muay Thai champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt Marlon Moraes (10-4) of Jupiter, Fla. via Nova Friburgo, Brazil earned his second straight victory in the World Series of Fighting cage, scoring an explosive first round (2:55) KO on Tyson Nam (12-5) of Portla! nd, Ore.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt David Branch (12-3) of Brooklyn, N.Y. dominated former PRIDE Fighting Championships superstar and WEC champion Paulo Filho (23-5) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in a middleweight (185 pounds) contest for three consecutive rounds to earn a unanimous decision victory.
In welterweight (170 pounds) action, Josh Burkman (25-9) of Salt Lake City, Utah took out Aaron “A Train” Simpson (12-5) of Phoenix, Ariz. in the opening round of their matchup.
