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On this week’s edition of ESPN MMA Live, Jon Anik and crew recap Strikeforce “Evolution” and WEC 45.

On this week’s edition of Fox Fight Game, Mike Straka and crew talk to Scott Smith about his big comeback win over Cung Le. Also, Renzo Gracie makes an appearance to talk about fighting for the UFC.

WEC 45’s ratings are in, and they’re not exactly a cause for celebration.

This past weekend’s broadcast of “WEC 45: Cerrone vs. Ratcliff” on Versus drew a 0.4 household rating and averaged 330,000 viewers, Versus officials today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

That’s nearly 90,000 less viewers than WEC 43 & WEC 44 pulled in.

WEC 43: 419,000
WEC 44: 414,000
WEC 45: 330,000

Several factors likely contributed to the ratings drop. Versus wasn’t on DirecTV for either WEC 43 or WEC 44, so that wasn’t really a factor, but Versus did lose 9 million more homes on Dec. 1 when a free trial period ended with the DISH Network, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable. Plus, the show lacked a title fight, it was the weekend before Christmas, and last but not least, they went head-to-head with Strikeforce “Evolution” on Showtime. Not ideal conditions for maximizing ratings.

Speaking of Strikeforce and Showtime, their ratings are also in. They fell in line with previous Showtime MMA events of similar scope.

WEC 45 drew 330,000 viewers, and Strikeforce’s latest offering topped it slightly with 341,000 viewers, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed with officials.

Strikeforce narrowly topped the WEC if you make a straight comparison of the viewership numbers, however if you compare the percentage of average viewers over availability — Strikeforce’s 2.8% (341k/12m) vs. WEC’s 0.4% (330k/75m) — Strikeforce clearly won the ratings battle on Dec. 19.

I guess fans didn’t get WEC president Reed Harris’ Strikeforce fights mean little memo.

Image via Esther Lin for Showtime

“King Mo” Lawal says he was just trying have fun when he showered himself and the cage with two cans of Rockstar energy drink during his post-fight celebration at Strikeforce “Evolution.” Mo isn’t even sponsored by Rockstar, so it was free exposure for them which has now turned into free publicity since the CSAC fined Mo $2,000 for inadvertently dousing the mat with the energy drink. You’d expect him to be furious over it, but he seems to be taking it pretty well.

The CSAC has released the fighter payouts for Strikeforce “Evolution.” Keep in mind, these figures represent the base contracted pay the fighter receives from the promotion. These figures do not include any additional undisclosed bonuses or sponsorship money, which in many cases exceeds a fighter’s base pay. These numbers also do not account for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

As always, Esther Lin has an awesome photo gallery from last night’s Strikeforce “Evolution” on Showtime event.

Strikeforce ‘Evolution’ post-fight press conference videos and interviews via Fanhouse, Showtime Sports, Strikeforce and Sherdog.

Strikeforce “Evolution” took place earlier this evening at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

Strikeforce ‘Evolution’ post weigh-in interviews with Cung Le, Josh Thomson, King Mo and Matt Lindland.