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Spike TV announces UFC 95 televised main card; Event to air via tape delay Feb. 21

UFC 95 from London

New York, NY, January 12, 2009 -- Spike TV heads across the pond for the fourth time to telecast a UFC fight card when "The Ultimate Fighter" champions Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (Season 1), making his debut in the lightweight division, and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (Season 2) meet in a bout which headlines the telecast Saturday, February 21 at 9:00pm ET/PT (same-day tape delay) from the O2 Arena in London, England.

UFC 95’s co-features are pivotal bouts in the middleweight and welterweight divisions, as Wilson Gouveia and Nate Marquardt meet at 185 lbs, and Rory Markham and Dan Hardy collide inside the Octagon at 170 lbs.

On the undercard, Josh Koscheck will look to spoil the UFC debut of newcomer Paulo Thiago in welterweight action, and submission specialist Demian Maia will welcome Chael Sonnen back to the UFC’s middleweight division in Sonnen’s first bout since coming over from the WEC.

Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (34-9) from Victorville, CA, burst onto the MMA scene while appearing on "The Ultimate Fighter 2," defeating Luke Cummo in the show’s finale to win the welterweight competition. After dropping down to lightweight, Stevenson defeated a succession of impressive opponents, including Yves Edwards, Melvin Guillard, and Kurt Pellegrino, to earn a shot at the lightweight title against BJ Penn. And though Stevenson fell short in his title effort, he looks to kick off 2009 on a winning note against Sanchez.

Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (21-2) will make his debut in the lightweight division at UFC 95, a far cry from his days on the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter", where he, incredibly, fought at middleweight. After defeating Kenny Florian to take home "The Ultimate Fighter" crown at Season 1’s finale, Sanchez dropped down to welterweight, and rattled off wins against some of the division’s best, including Nick Diaz, Karo Parisyan, and Joe Riggs. After dropping back to back bouts to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, Sanchez left the welterweight division on a high note, besting David Bielkheden and Luigi Fioravanti before announcing his move to lightweight. Now he’ll be aiming for his third straight win, this time with his eyes on BJ Penn’s lightweight belt, as he takes on Stevenson.

The night’s co-features will go a long way towards sorting out the contenders from the pretenders in the middleweight and welterweight divisions.

Star-divide

In middleweight action, Wilson Gouveia (12-5) is on a quest to win his third straight bout, and seventh in eight tries. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, who trains with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, FL, most recently defeated Jason McDonald at "The Ultimate Fighter 8" finale. He achieved this victory like he has all of his wins inside the Octagon: by finishing the bout before it went to the judges’ cards. Gouveia will look to continue that trend against Nate Marquardt.

Marquardt (30-8-2), who trains with Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting camp in Albuquerque with current light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, made his UFC debut in 2005, and won his first four matches en route to a title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 73 in July of 2007. Like so many of Silva’s foes, Marquardt dropped his bout with "The Spider," but is hungry for another shot at the reigning middleweight champ. He began his quest by defeating Martin Kampmann at UFC 88 this past September, and Gouveia is the next step in his journey back towards the top of the 185 lbs. weight class.

In the welterweight division, Rory Markham takes on UK native Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy in a battle of two of the most promising talents in the division. Markham (16-4), a member of Team Miletich in Bettendorf, IA, made his UFC debut at "Ultimate Fight Night: Silva Vs Irvin" in July, winning by knockout in the first round over Brodie Farber. Finishing fights is not uncommon for Markham, who, in twenty professional bouts, has never had a fight go to decision. He’ll face a stiff test in Hardy (20-6, 1 NC), who showed great resiliency in winning his UFC debut against Akihiro Gono in October at UFC 89. Hardy won that slugfest via split decision, and the Nottingham, England native has never been stopped in a fight. He’ll need that iron jaw against Markham, as both men try and ascend the ranks of the welterweight division.

Also on the card, Josh Koscheck (14-3), coming off one of the most devastating knockouts of 2008 in defeating Yoshiyuki Yoshida on the UFC Fight for the Troops card in December, will take on UFC newcomer Paulo Thiago (7-0) in welterweight action. In the middleweight division, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu virtuoso Demian Maia (10-0) will look to remain perfect in the UFC and win his fifth straight fight via submission as he faces Team Quest member Chael Sonnen (23-9-1), who is fresh from a November 2008 victory over previously unbeaten Brazilian phenom Paulo Filho.

Spike TV is available in 97.3 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.

0 recs  |  Comment 26 comments

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Decent card for free on t.v..awesome

by Anonymousf*ck on Jan 12, 2009 11:06 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

I read somewhere that in southern California, Time Warner was having major issues trying to sign a deal with Spike TV. They could possibly not carry Spike anymore. Not sure of the outcome, yet. Does anyone know? Time Warner sucks anyways. I would swith to Direct TV of even Verizon Fios if you live here.

by BNF on Jan 12, 2009 11:40 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Time Warner and Viacom came to a deal over a week ago.

by Rich B on Jan 12, 2009 12:12 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

looks like garbage to me… i mean joe stevenson has lost 2 of his last 3 fights and hes the main event? this card looks suitable for a WEC event maybe… the only good fight on this card is gouveia/marquardt

by brendan on Jan 12, 2009 5:20 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

i completely agree. this is garbage guys. this would make a good “fight night” but not even close to a good ufc 95. the main card is more like an opening night fight…..brutal.

by bradpittfightclub on Jan 12, 2009 11:45 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I cant wait for Maia to submit that diarrhea of the mouth plagued Sonnen

by El_Mexicutioner, formerly The_Mexicutioner on Jan 12, 2009 11:06 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

me to Mex. I cant stand Cheal “OVER rated” Sonnen!

I hope Maia makes his face turn purple!

by john on Jan 12, 2009 3:08 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

i’m hoping sportsnet airs the event live again, like they did with 89.

by battery on Jan 12, 2009 11:07 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

Is Sentanta sports like ESPN is here? If so, how were they able to get a deal with the UFC and no one here hasn’t. They offer Sentanta on Direct TV, but I think they only show soccer games.

by El_Mexicutioner, formerly The_Mexicutioner on Jan 12, 2009 11:08 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

Yeah kind of, Setanta and SkySports are the two big sports channels in the UK.

How they were able to get a deal with the UFC, where they’re able to show all the events live at no extra cost, i have no idea. I can only guess that as MMA isn’t/wasn’t as big over here, the UFC were able to offer Setanta a good price/deal simply to get the UFC on TV here, and break into the UK market.

by UKMMA on Jan 12, 2009 11:26 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Mex – Setanta is a subscription channel. I pay £12.99 per month for Setanta which lets me watch all the UFC shows (including PPV)!

by MoonUK on Jan 12, 2009 1:09 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

setanta sports shows all ufc live events aswell as football (soccer) games

by tom on Jan 12, 2009 2:35 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I just looked at 3pm on the 17th for the Sentanta on Direct TV and its got soccer. Sucks.

by El_Mexicutioner, formerly The_Mexicutioner on Jan 12, 2009 3:54 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I was thinking of getting it, but I dont know if they will show the UFC PPV’s live here in America. Anyone here have it on Direct TV?

by El_Mexicutioner, formerly The_Mexicutioner on Jan 12, 2009 3:49 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I never understood why everyone was calling this card a bust. It seems pretty good to me. Yeah it could use a title match, but this is just fine as it is to me.

by Synyster [[2009 Year of Gegard Mousasi]] on Jan 12, 2009 11:08 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

setanta sports gives us all the fight nights / ufc events / ultimate fighters/ countdown shows everythink you get on spike tv and ppv for FREE

by liamd on Jan 12, 2009 11:24 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

10.99 a month

by Bad intentions on Jan 12, 2009 11:46 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

where are you located?

by Jay on Jan 12, 2009 5:32 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I know I mentioned this before but…IN CANADA…

the last UFC that aired free on Spike from the UK (Leben vs Bisping) was shown on Sportsnet real-time. It was early (around 4:00 pm) Atlantic Time so keep your fingers crossed and check your time zone.

by DJ on Jan 12, 2009 12:02 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

They show them on channelsurfing.net but sometime the stream skips or gets messed up.

by El_Mexicutioner, formerly The_Mexicutioner on Jan 12, 2009 6:14 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

“On the undercard, Josh Koscheck will look to spoil the UFC debut of newcomer Paulo Thiago in welterweight action, and submission specialist Demian Maia will welcome Chael Sonnen back to the UFC’s middleweight division in Sonnen’s first bout since coming over from the WEC.”

Does this imply that both Kos and Maia are on the undercard?

by DirtyML on Jan 12, 2009 1:03 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

No. Just not the main/co main events. The undercard would be the fights that they dont even mention, like the Dos Santos and Paul Kelly fights.

by Synyster [[2009 Year of Gegard Mousasi]] on Jan 12, 2009 1:08 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

we get all ufc events for free :)

by tom on Jan 12, 2009 2:37 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Gouveia and Marquardt should be a banger!

by Ground-Game on Jan 12, 2009 3:05 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Diego has started the meltdown on the sweet white cure and will win for sure playa, no shit.

by Dan Quinn on Jan 12, 2009 9:34 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Gouveia and Marquardt should be a banger!

by Signzoe on Jan 13, 2009 12:46 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

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