CINCINNATI — Cincinnati’s days as a destination for major MMA events may be over.

For the first time in four years, a major organization ventured to Cincinnati for a nationally televised event. “Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov” took place Saturday at Cincinnati’s U.S. Bank Arena, and the fight card delivered.

Local fights fans, though, didn’t.

While Strikeforce officials wouldn’t release an official attendance figure, no more than 2,000 spectators likely were in attendance. In Strikeforce’s nearly six-year history, no “Arena Series” show has done so poorly.

“It was our first time here, and yeah, it was a little rough,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said.

And it’s not as though Strikeforce didn’t do its part. The Cincinnati market was saturated with event ads on TV, radio and billboards. Ticket prices were affordable. The Reds and Bearcats were out of town. And the card was just as stacked as a March show at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena, which drew 7,123 fans.

Whether it’s Strikeforce or its sister promotion, the UFC, markets such as Dayton are unlikely to get events if Cincinnati can’t prove the region’s drawing power.

In fairness to those who did attend, they provided a great crowd. They were knowledgeable, and fighters fed off their cheers, which provided better performances. It’s just a shame there weren’t more of them.

As for the card itself, heavyweights Josh Barnett (31-5) and Daniel Cormier (9-0) advanced to the 2012 grand-prix finale with semifinal-round victories over Sergei Kharitonov (18-5) and Antonio Silva (16-3), respectively. Also on the Showtime-televised main card, Luke Rockhold (8-1) took the Strikeforce middleweight title with a win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (14-3).

In a featured bout on the HDNet-televised preliminary card, Cincinnati’s Dominique Steele (4-1) delivered Middletown middleweight Chris Mierzwiak (3-1) his first career loss.

Injury sidelines Franklin: Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin’s 2011 campaign is over.

The Harrison native and West Chester Twp. resident injured his shoulder two weeks ago and will undergo surgery for the torn labrum on Tuesday.

Franklin’s camp says it’ll require a two- to three-month recovery before he returns to training.

Franklin, who was supposed to fight this past month at UFC 133 before opponent Antonio Rogerio Nogueira scratched due to injury, had been in talks to fight Tito Ortiz later this year.