Bellator viewership peaked at 1.34 million for Bellator 192 on a night during a UFC event. The UFC has also increased the price of their pay-per-views this year and Bellator is mostly free on the new Paramount Network, which Viacom is heavily promoting. The viewership numbers are healthy considering the options people had to watch that night.
I think 2018 will be very interesting for the landscape of MMA as a whole. It reminds me of the "Monday Night Wars" from back in the day with pro-wrestling. I remember when Bill Goldberg addressed it in his book he said it was good for business and I think the same is applying to MMA right now.
I know they keep trying, but imagine of the Ali Act is expanded to include MMA, the fights we could possibly see would be pay-per-view worthy and fighters would certainly make a lot more money. It might not happen in 2018 but Kevin Kay, Paramount Network's President said at the start of 2017 he wanted to be a solid number two to the UFC and I think that has already been accomplished. #steemitbjj