Bellator 204 Peaks at 699,000 Viewers for Ricky Bandejas vs. James Gallagher

James Gallagher is right about one thing: Win or lose, he makes people care.

According to +3 DVR figures released from an industry executive, Bellator 204 peaked at 699,000 viewers for the bout between Gallagher and Ricky Bandejas on Friday night. The brash Irishman, a training partner of Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland, suffered a first-round knockout loss to Bandejas in a featured bantamweight clash on Paramount Network.

Gallagher had been undefeated in his first seven MMA appearances and had drawn attention for his brash antics. After the defeat, Gallagher posted on Instagram that “If I hadn’t of [talked], none of you would be talking about me either.”

Bellator 204 took place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and saw reigning bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell earn a second-round knockout of Noad Lahat at 145 pounds in the main event. As a whole, Bellator 204 averaged 413,000 viewers (+3 DVR).

Prior to the release of DVR +3 figures, Bellator 204 averaged 319,000 viewers, according to ShowBuzz Daily. That made it the second-lowest rated card of the year televised on Paramount Network, behind only Bellator 197, which was split between Paramount and CMT.