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GLORY 21 ratings: Spike TV event attracts 517,000 viewers, third highest-viewed card in promotion's history

Movin' on up ...

By Michael Stets
Artem Levin and Simon Marcus at GLORY 21
Artem Levin and Simon Marcus at GLORY 21
James Law/GLORY Sports International

The television ratings for GLORY 21 are in, showing a significant jump from the promotion's previous event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

According to Spike TV, 517,000 viewers tuned in to see Artem Levin and Simon Marcus battle for the middleweight title, as well as Xavier Vigney defeat "Chopper" Chi Lewis-Parry and Maurice Jackson to win the heavyweight "qualification" tournament.

The kickboxing card aired at 11PM ET, and peaked at 797,000 viewers.

The San Diego, Calif., kickboxing event that took place last Friday (May 8, 2015) and aired live on Spike TV, is now the third highest-viewed card in the promotion's history, sandwiched between GLORY 19 and GLORY 16. Now two of the top three cards have taken place in 2015.

The numbers for GLORY 21 show a 44 percent increase from the disappointing GLORY 20 event, which was aired via tape delay on April 3, 2015, featuring a lightweight title fight between Robin van Roosmalen and Andy Ristie. That event had 359,000 viewers.

GLORY had several key factors in its favor in regard to GLORY 21.

First, there were four knockouts in the five fights, including all three tournament bouts. Second, there were familiar faces from previous cards.

Raymond "Real Deal" Daniels scored a highlight-reel KO over Justin Baesman in the co-main event of the evening. The fans most likely remembered him from the GLORY 19 welterweight tournament that took place in February. The GLORY 21 main event had Marcus -- who won the GLORY 20 middleweight tournament -- fighting in his second consecutive card.

As GLORY continues to reach new fans, this was a a good sign that casual fans liked what they saw from Marcus and Daniels last time out, as well as the hardcore combat sports fans tuning in like they usually do.

Most viewed GLORY cards from top to bottom:

  1. GLORY 13 659,000 viewers
  2. GLORY 19 542,000 viewers
  3. GLORY 21 517,000 viewers
  4. GLORY 16 498,000 viewers
  5. GLORY 14 495,000 viewers
  6. GLORY 17, 482,000 viewers
  7. GLORY 12 476,000 viewers
  8. GLORY 11 381,000 viewers
  9. GLORY 15 354,000 viewers
  10. GLORY 20 359,000 viewers
  11. GLORY 18 352,000 viewers
GLORY's next event will be on June 5, 2015, in Lille, France. GLORY 21 features a heavyweight title fight between Rico Verhoeven and Benjamin Adegbuyi, as well as a lightweight contender tournament. Verhoeven -- who defeated Errol Zimmerman at GLORY 19 -- should be another familiar face (like Marcus and Daniels) who may interest some of the newer viewers who have watched the last few cards.

To check out detailed GLORY 21 results, including play-by-play updates, click here.

*Update: This post was updated from previous report of GLORY 21 having 488,000 viewers and being GLORY's fifth highest-viewed card on Spike. The DVR numbers were just released by Spike on Wednesday (May 13, 2015) which increased the overall average number of viewers.

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