Spike TV to air portion of UFC 103 undercard
In an attempt to knock out a boxing pay-per-view the same night headlined by the comeback of unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr., the Ultimate Fighting Championship is airing an hour of preliminary fights from UFC 103 at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on basic cable's Spike TV.
Both UFC 103 and the Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez boxing match in Las Vegas are on pay-per-view on Sept. 19
. Prior to the start of the UFC's usual 10 p.m. ET pay-per-view broadcast, Spike will, for the first time, broadcast an hour of fights without commercial interruption. The Spike portion of the card will begin at 9 p.m. ET.
"Providing an action-packed UFC pay-per-view, live and commercial free, to our viewers on both coasts, further illustrates Spike TV and the UFC's commitment to its fans," Spike TV president Kevin Kay said in a statement.
Among the fights to be shown on Spike are Efrain Escudero against Cole Miller and Drew McFedries against Tomasz Drwal.
Escudero was the lightweight winner on Season 8 of "The Ultimate Fighter." Miller was part of the cast of Season 5 of TUF.
McFedries is a power-punching light heavyweight who is coming off a first-round stoppage of Xavier Foupa-Pokam. Drwal, a native of Poland, is 16-2 in mixed martial arts and has won his last two bouts in the UFC.
For its part, the Mayweather-Marquez promoters are beefing up boxing's notorious weak pay-per-view undercard with a rematch between Chris John and Rocky Juarez and appearances by Michael Katsidis and Zab Judah.
The main event of the pay-per-view portion of the card pits former UFC light heavweight champion Vitor Belfort, in his return to the company, against former middleweight champ Rich Franklin.
