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 111: "St. Pierre vs. Hardy" undercard last Saturday night (March 27).

Unfortunately the 1.2 million viewers it garnered was an all-time low for the series since its 2009 debut, according to MMATorch.

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 111 prelim bouts aired commercial-free and scored a 0.9 household rating with a 1.1 among men 18-34 and a 1.2 among men 18-49.

That number may be indicative of the competition it faced from the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, which likely affected the number of viewers tuning in on Saturday night.

Still, with the series-high 1.7 million viewers Spike TV nabbed for the UFC 109 prelim fights back in February, this latest number has to be considered a disappointment.

Viewers were treated to UFC welterweight stars Matt Brown and Ricardo Almeida mixing it up alongside the 155-pound scrap between Nate Diaz and Rory Markham. The UFC and Spike TV still have seven "UFC Prelim" specials on tap for the remainder of 2010.

For complete results and coverage of UFC 111: "St. Pierre vs. Hardy" click here and here.