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CHICAGO, (Nov. 8, 2009) – Saturday night marked MMA’s return to primetime on CBS featuring the No. 1 MMA fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, against Brett Rogers, in the main event. The event aired live on the CBS Television Network at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Attendance at the Sears Centre Arena was 11,512 (sellout).

Inside the Numbers: Shields had the statistical advantage in every round, with 96 of his 106 total strikes landed coming from the ground. Miller landed just 39 total strikes all fight, but scored five takedowns, to seven for Shields. Miller sunk a rear naked choke that probably would have ended the fight in round three had the horn not sounded.

Early ratings for the CBS broadcast of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers showed strong numbers in demographics where the sport has historically fared well. In the event’s headliner, Fedor Emelianenko knocked out Brett Rogers in the second round, while co-headliners Jake Shields and Jason “Mayhem” Miller went the distance with Shields emerging as the new Strikeforce middleweight champion.

The primetime portion of Fedor vs. Rogers (9 p.m. to 11 p.m.) drew an average of 3.79 million viewers, down from CBS’ last foray into MMA with EliteXC’s “Heat,” which averaged 4.3 million viewers in the same time period, according to TVbythenumbers.com.

The primetime numbers for Fedor vs. Rogers don’t include the main event fight. The event ran long with that bout clocking in following the primetime portion of the broadcast.

Even so, in key male demographics, the Saturday fights came in first, edging college football on ABC with a 2.2 rating for males 18-34 and a 2.3 rating for males 18-49.

Overall, the primetime broadcast led in adults 18-34 and 18-49 with 1.7 ratings.

The 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. portion of the Saturday broadcast was the third most watched show on network television.

The 10:00 to 10:30 segment, which featured the bulk of Shields vs. Miller, is at the moment the only fight to crack the Top 20 most watched fights in MMA’s history with U.S. television, coming in at 18th.

Compared to ratings for CBS’ regular Saturday night programming, the event showed marked improvement in male and adult demographics, but shaved 2.33 million total viewers from an average audience of 6.12 million.