GP Rating: 15.3 Average, 19.9 Peak

The final Japanese rating for the Grand Prix is in and the news is good. 

The show drew an average rating of 15.3% over the entire broadcast.  This is a very strong average, which FEG has to feel good about.  The highest rating for the show was a 19.9%, which translates to 1 out of 5 TV viewers in Japan at that time watching the GP.  Somewhat surprisingly, that highest rated segment was Bonjasky v. Zimmerman - the only GP fight to get out of the first round.  This makes their fight the most watched K-1 fight of the year, just barely beating the previous high mark of 19.8% for Masato v. Kawajiri.  For a fight like Bonjasky v. Zimmerman to draw more viewers than an icon like Masato, and for the show as a whole to be near Masato's numbers, is rather remarkable and speaks well for K-1's future.

Tanigawa has said he is pulling for a 20% rating on New Year's Eve for Dynamite, and with these numbers, that 20% could actually end up being a somewhat conservative estimate.