Spike TV to air two UFC 104 prelim bouts live on Oct. 24

by MMAmania.com on Oct 12, 2009 4:38 PM EDT

bader-schafer

Spike TV today announced that it will once again air a portion of an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight card on its network prior to a major pay-per-view (PPV) broadcast.

Fans will be treated to one hour of uninterrupted mixed martial arts competition at 9 p.m. ET on Oct. 24 when Ryan Bader takes on Eric Schafer in a light heavyweight showdown and heavyweights Antoni Hardonk and Pat Barry collide on the UFC 104: "Machida vs. Shogun" under card.

Similar to UFC 103 last month, which attracted 1.4 million viewers during the network's trial run with the idea, it will air commercial-free and possibly showcase additional prerecorded action if time permits. It will lead into the PPV telecast at 10 p.m., which will be available for purchase at $44.95.

UFC 104 features the first title defense for undefeated light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida against fellow Brazilian Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the main event of the evening. In addition, rising talent Cain Velasquez and veteran Ben Rothwell will "wage war" in a super-sized heavyweight showdown.

To check out the latest UFC 104 fight card click here.

Remember that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of UFC 104, beginning with the Spike TV telecast. In addition, we will deliver up-to-the-minute quick results of all the under card action on fight night.

Tweet Comment 30 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Read More: ufc 104, ufc ppv events, spiketv, ufc

Comments

noiice barry hardonk is going to be a war

by Jared on Oct 12, 2009 4:40 PM EDT reply actions

i dont think it will i think hardonk will take him down and submit his ass fast

by ruanfiy on Oct 12, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

No way man. I mean, that’d be the logical thing to do, but I really want to see Hardonk leg kick this dude. lol. Barry got some explosive stand up as well, but I like Hardonk more.

And I think I’m one of few who like Bader. I dont see him as a boring LnP wrestler like alot of folks do. And Red Schafer isn’t exactly a can.

Good stuff. Remember too, when these fights end in the first round, we’ll get to see more than just those 2.

by Synyster on Oct 12, 2009 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions

who is doing the q&a for the weigh-ins

by Mikeybear on Oct 12, 2009 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions

i will be there so at least i get to see okami…that guy should leave the ufc cause they r screwing him

by Mikeybear on Oct 12, 2009 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions

The f’d up thing about Okami too is that he could make some serious bank fighting in DREAM or Sengoku. Joe Silva will keep fn with him until they’re ready to go to Japan i think, then they’ll give him a title shot.

by NameNotRequired on Oct 12, 2009 6:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Okami vs Jacare sounds interesting.

by Synyster on Oct 12, 2009 9:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Syn, I like Bader too.
Heavy hands and the rare moniker “Darth” does it for me.;)

by Syd on Oct 12, 2009 9:55 PM EDT up reply actions

No way, Barry is gonna own that chump ! And this is music to my ears. 2 more fights for free !

by jc3cme on Oct 12, 2009 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I love this trend! Missing undercard fights has always been a pet peeve of mine and it helps the company to get more tv exposure and late ppv orders from people who see it on tv and get impulsed to continue with the event. Two Thumbs way up!

by JRE on Oct 12, 2009 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Gonzaga vs Dos Santos, mmaweekly is reporting

by jammin on Oct 12, 2009 9:26 PM EDT up reply actions

All right!
Dos Santos via “clobberin’ time!!”

by Syd on Oct 12, 2009 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions

this is defintly somthing the ufc needs to do more it will help build more stars in each divison

by tz swanger on Oct 12, 2009 4:52 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed…..The UFC should this with Spike at every PPV show!

by ducknow on Oct 12, 2009 5:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes I agree thank you boxing!!!

by frosnt1 on Oct 12, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes. This can only help the UFC and as Dana has said in an interview or two, he’s just waiting for the right deal to go regular network TV.

Totally dominating PPV is great but getting UFC and MMA, in general into the “normal population” of viewers is the big win. If he could get the right deal out of Fox, NBC or ABC we’d be watching MMA like we watch Football on network tv now.

For now, this is great. We’ll have to see what kind of freakshow CBS gives us later on.

by dab0neman on Oct 12, 2009 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions

once again okami is screwed. this is gettin ridiculous

by coogs78 on Oct 12, 2009 4:54 PM EDT reply actions

oh well he’s boring as shit. he had the opportunity to get a dominating win against lister but instead he fough a safe fight taking teh decision.

by Jared on Oct 12, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

okami screwed again

by coogs78 on Oct 12, 2009 4:54 PM EDT reply actions

sweet!

by SlowChildrenSignsAreMean on Oct 12, 2009 5:23 PM EDT reply actions

I hope the okam fight makes it on spike or onto the main broadcast

by Nnr on Oct 12, 2009 5:57 PM EDT reply actions

To be honest, I nearly cancelled my DirecTV service; but the UFC, especially this!, changed my mind.

by poyb on Oct 12, 2009 5:58 PM EDT reply actions

Cancelled my Dish Network and am now going through withdrawals. Spike and Vs are now gone in my home.
:(

by wAyNe on Oct 12, 2009 8:26 PM EDT up reply actions

i just went to bright house i like it so far

by the still operator on Oct 12, 2009 6:11 PM EDT reply actions

Great news that they’re still doing prelims on Spike, they also showed them on ESPN though I didn’t realise at the time until it was too late (I’d heard that ESPN only signed a deal to show unaired prelims of British fighters and as Semtex was promoted to the main card to fight Kampmann we weren’t getting any extra fights), so I ended up watching some undercard fights and hype from PBF-JMM and ended up catching the last minute of the prelim broadcast when I turned on UFC 103. At least I know to expect the extra fights this time.

Bader-Schafer will be a good fight, I think the stick that Bader gets is unfair, sure his fight with Eliot on TUF sucked but the others were pretty good, that KO over Lawlor was sick and it was great watching him destroy Vinni in the finale. The win over Marrero was also impressive and he would have finished him if he hadn’t have broken his hand. Schafer will be a decent test, but I think that Bader will have the better striking as he has proven punching power and Red will struggle to get this fight to the ground, I expect this fight to go like Bader-Vinni.

Hardonk-Barry should be a good K-1 style fight, as both have atrocious ground games but good striking so this has the potential to be a very fun fight and a lot more technical than the usual MMA style slugfests between one dimensional fighters. This is a must win fight as chances are the loser will get cut, as both are coming off defeats and neither have beaten decent competition in the UFC, so I’m expecting both guys to look for the KO.

by David W-S on Oct 12, 2009 7:16 PM EDT reply actions

Schafer for the upset im calling it

by Tony on Oct 12, 2009 7:36 PM EDT reply actions

I hope they do this with little Nogs fight.

by BenLardo on Oct 12, 2009 7:46 PM EDT reply actions

It’s great that they’ve started doing this. It’s deffinately settled one of my biggest complaints of the UFC in that I don’t get to see fighters I want to see like Ryan Bader.

…and yes I know Dana White always says the prelims are for the people that go but you know what whatever.

by pbdb on Oct 12, 2009 8:51 PM EDT reply actions