Spike TV once again aired a portion of a UFC fight card on its network prior to a major pay-per-view (PPV) broadcast, as fight fans were treated to one hour of uninterrupted mixed martial arts competition on the UFC 109: "Relentless" under card last Saturday night (Feb. 6).

Similar to UFC 103 last Sept. and then UFC 104 in Oct., which both attracted about 1.4 million viewers as the promotion began to test the idea along with its cable television partner, select UFC 109 prelim bouts aired commercial-free and garnered 1.7 million viewers for a 1.2 household rating.

That number beat the 1.5 million viewers tuning in to last month's UFC 108 under card -- and pretty much any other prelim offering since the Spike TV special debuted late last year.

Spike TV today announced the broadcast was also a big hit among men between the ages of 18 to 34 and 18-49, scoring a 1.6 rating and a 1.1 rating, respectively.

Viewers were treated to Mac Danzig and Melvin Guillard taking home "Relentless" decision victories. The Vegan warrior outpointed Justin Buccholz while "The Young Assassin" did enough to sway the judges against Ronnys Torres.

For complete results and coverage of UFC 109: "Relentless" click here and here.