Fedor vs. Werdum Earns $1 Million Gate, Ratings Boost

Fabricio Werdum’s shocking first round submission victory over Fedor Emelianenko last weekend at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum” drew a live gate of $1,066,739 with 11,757 spectators witnessing the enormous upset live in San Jose, California.

MMAjunkie.com reported the numbers today after learning of the gate and attendance from the California State Athletic Commission.

The June 26 card took place at the HP Pavilion in the promotion’s hometown and featured the aforementioned heavyweight clash between Werdum and Emelianenko. The main event was supported by three other main card bouts that aired live on Showtime, including former lightweight champion Josh Thomson’s submission victory over Pat Healy, Cung Le’s vengeance via technical knockout over Scott Smith, and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos’ absolute thrashing of heavy underdog Jan Finney.

While the exact numbers for the Showtime broadcast were not unveiled, MMAjunkie.com learned today that the ratings came in 56% above that of the promotion’s May card, “Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery”, which featured heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem’s first round technical knockout victory over Brett Rogers. The sources also stated that the show proved to be the third highest rated Showtime broadcast of a Strikeforce event. The official numbers from the broadcast are expected to be revealed shortly.