UFC moves prelims to ION TV

The UFC and Spike have had a great relationship over the years. Has it changed?

Monday night, MMAjunkie broke the story that the UFC 125 prelims will air on ION Television. Fans may also see three fights instead of the normal two.

Dana White indicated that he can't guarantee all three will make it to television.

"The prelims we do air, there's only supposed to be two," White said. "Time-wise, it's impossible to pull off three if they all go to the distance. I'm going to roll the dice on this thing.

"Not only are we going to bring the prelims to the fans, but everybody has been hammering me for the Phil Baroni-Brad Tavares fight, so I'm going to do three fights. I'm going to give them that fight, too."

This is something the UFC president was hoping for.

"I always try to give the fans as much as I can give them," White said. "I love being able to give them free fights. That's always been my goal and my model with this thing since day one.

"I grew up watching free fights in TV with boxing, and I loved it. I was a huge fan. I always try to give the fans as much as I can."

The Spike relationship produced 12 seasons of "The Ultimate Fighter," 34 free Ultimate Fight Night and TUF Finale cards, and the live prelims at several recent pay-per-view events. The promotion and network seemed to have run into a snag recently.

"We're going to talk to [ION] and see what's up," White said. "This might be a regular thing.

"Listen, it's a ballsy move to go on network with prelims, but the Ion guys are the real deal. We're going to see if we can make it happen with them."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-moves-prelims-to-ION-TV?urn=mma-300990

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