WSOF 22 hits one year audience high for 'Palhares vs. Shields' on NBCSN

World Series of Fighting (WSOF) was taking a calculated risk with its WSOF 22: "Palhares vs. Shields" fight card back on August 1st, going head-to-head with UFC 190: "Rousey vs. Correia" live from Brazil. Confidence was high going into the show, however, with WSOF President Ray Sefo predicting his fights would be better.

Who won the night in quality will be left to fans and pundits to decide, but in terms of audience size, WSOF posted its best live numbers in a one-year span with an average of 254,000 viewers, a total exceeding its 2014 average (for all shows) of 233,000 viewers.

New CEO Carlos Silva commented on the success.

"We are thrilled with the outstanding, recent performance of our programming on NBCSN. World Series of Fighting has been putting on some incredible fights in our decagon cage, and NBCSN has been a great partner, offering its audience a healthy dose of both live events and replays of recent, past events, all of which undoubtedly helps the continued growth of our brand and our great sport through consistent and prominent exposure to a national audience."

It had a little help from all of the controversy.

Live viewership was no doubt bolstered by welterweight champion Rousimar Palhares and his reputation as a dirty fighter, and viewers who caught the show saw what will go down as his last title defense before being stripped of the WSOF welterweight strap.

For more WSOF news and notes click HERE.