Spike and the UFC announced Friday that the September 19 pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 103 will be preceded by a commercial-free broadcast of undercard fights shown live on Spike, giving fans at least two live fights for free before the pay-per-view show starts.
Obviously, more UFC fights on basic cable is a good thing for MMA fans, and it raises the question of whether this could become the norm: If the undercard entices more fans to buy the pay-per-view than would ordinarily order it, we might see live fights on Spike before every pay-per-view.
The pay-per-view show will start at 10 PM ET and the Spike undercard will start at 9 PM ET. The UFC hasn't said for sure which fights will make the Spike card, but a press release issued by Spike today said that Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller and Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal will air on Spike.
Here's how the card is likely to look:
Pay-per-view:
Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović vs. Junior dos Santos
Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann
Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg
Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca
Spike:
Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller
Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal
Non-televised or tape delay:
Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac
Dan Lauzon vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Paul Daley vs. Brian Foster
Rob Emerson vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez
UPDATE: Despite previous reports that Spike would show two hours of live fights, Spike's press release Friday said its show will start at 9, with the pay-per-view starting at 10.
Obviously, more UFC fights on basic cable is a good thing for MMA fans, and it raises the question of whether this could become the norm: If the undercard entices more fans to buy the pay-per-view than would ordinarily order it, we might see live fights on Spike before every pay-per-view.
The pay-per-view show will start at 10 PM ET and the Spike undercard will start at 9 PM ET. The UFC hasn't said for sure which fights will make the Spike card, but a press release issued by Spike today said that Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller and Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal will air on Spike.
Here's how the card is likely to look:
Pay-per-view:
Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović vs. Junior dos Santos
Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann
Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg
Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca
Spike:
Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller
Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal
Non-televised or tape delay:
Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac
Dan Lauzon vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Paul Daley vs. Brian Foster
Rob Emerson vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez
UPDATE: Despite previous reports that Spike would show two hours of live fights, Spike's press release Friday said its show will start at 9, with the pay-per-view starting at 10.
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