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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC Prelims Live specials return to Spike TV in 2011 beginning with next month's UFC 126 event, and Spike TV officials on Monday officially announced the return for 2011.
While Spike and the UFC teamed in 2010 to bring ten such specials to the network, 2011 will see an additional two events get the Prelims Live treatment, as 12 total specials will air ahead of UFC pay-per-view events.
The hour long broadcasts have run on Spike since September of 2009, and the hour long broadcasts have garnered between 1.1 and 1.7 million viewers on Spike.
The UFC 126 Prelims Live broadcast takes place on February 5, and will feature Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly and Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa. That night's pay-per-view broadcast is headlined by a Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort, live in Las Vegas.
Penick's Analysis: This means that all but three or four pay-per-view cards in 2011 will feature a guaranteed seven fights on TV and pay-per-view. With the UFC experimenting with the Facebook stream this past Saturday, they could be bringing even more fights online throughout the year as well. It's going to be a great thing for fans and fighters, as more fighters will be able to get sponsorships for their fights being on TV, and fans will get more free fights to go along with the pay-per-view events. This will be great throughout the year.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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