Spike TV will once again offer mixed martial arts fans a look at select preliminary bouts when it airs live under card action from the upcoming UFC 109: "Relentless" pay-per-view on Feb. 6 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC lightweight stars Mac Danzig and Justin Buchholz will bring their bout to the airwaves alongside the 155-pound scrap between Melvin Guillard and Ronnys Torres.
Danzig, Guillard and Buchholz are all coming off recent losses while Torres is riding an eight-fight winning streak.
Starting with the UFC 103 pay-per-view back in September 2009 and then again at UFC 104 just a month later, the Zuffa brass wanted to test the idea along with its cable television partner and see what kind of numbers free preliminary bouts could generate.
After attracting about 1.4 million viewers for both events as well as snagging a 1.0 household rating for the 1.3 million viewers who tuned in to see featured preliminary bouts from UFC 106, the network ordered another ten bouts for 2010 starting with UFC 108: "Evans vs. Silva."
More under card fights are expected to air on the cable television network from future UFC cards as well. If the numbers continue to hold, it could become a permanent addition to every pay-per-view event.
And that's a good thing.