UFC 110 on Spike TV Tonight to Counter Strikeforce on CBS

The Ultimate Fighting Championship took Australia by storm for the first time and fans saw explosive match-ups featuring two early Fight of the Year candidates. Featuring Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira vs Cain Velasquez, Wanderlei Silva vs Michael Bisping, Joe Stevenson vs George Sotiropoulos and more.

UFC 110 airs for the first time on free TV on Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.

Countdown to UFC 112 Debuts Late Night Tonight on Spike

Just a little reminder that "Countdown to UFC 112" -- featuring a look at the feature bouts for Saturday's event in Abu Dhabi -- premiers Thursday night at Midnight PT/ET on Spike TV.

Best of Pride Debuts Friday Night; Watch Full Liddell vs. Overeem Now

One of the most popular MMA organizations in the world during its ten years of operation (1997-2007), Pride Fighting Championships, based in Japan, featured world class mixed martial arts artists in some of the most dramatic bouts in the early history of the sport. Spike TV will re-broadcast the best of these bouts in "The Best of Pride Fighting Championships," premiering tonight, Friday, January 15 at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

Hosted by Kenda Perez, the series features past and present UFC champions among the legendary MMA combatants that includes Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, Dan Henderson, Mirko Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Mark Coleman, Frank Trigg, Hidehiko Yoshida, Akihro Gono and Takanoro Gomi.

One of those classic fights is Chuck Liddell vs. Alistair Overeem. As a little taste of what's to come on "The Best of Pride Fighting Championships," check out the full fight video below, courtesy of Spike TV:

UFC | UFC | SPIKE.com

Best of Pride Debuts Friday Night on Spike TV

Get a taste of what's headed your way as Spike TV presents the 'Best of Pride" series, including some of the best bouts in the history of the sport. The series premieres January 15th at 10PM ET.

"Best of Pride" Begins on Spike TV on Jan. 15

For those you that thought you'd never see Pride FC again, well... it's not the resurrection of the venerable Japanese fighting promotion, but Spike TV on Jan. 15 begins the Friday night series "Best of Pride," featuring bouts from the storied history of Pride and focusing on the fighters that have made the transition to the UFC.

Best of Pride | UFC | SPIKE.com

Countdown to UFC 108 Tuesday Night on Spike TV

Scenes from Countdown to UFC 108, which airs on Spike TV at 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 29.

Video Preview of the Final Two Episodes of Ultiamte Fighter: The Heavyweights

An extended video preview of the final two episodes of The Ultimate Fighter: The Heavyweights, which air at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night (Dec. 2) on Spike TV. The two finalists for Saturday's season finale will be determined...

UFC Main Events Premiers on Spike TV Saturday Night

Spike TV will air a stacked two-hour block of "never-before-seen on cable (non-pay-per-view)" counterprogramming to the Nov. 7 telecast of Saturday Night Fights on CBS.

"UFC Main Events" airs head-to-head with "Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers," both events starting at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Fedor vs. Rogers marks Strikeforce's debut on CBS and Fedor Emelianenko's first fight for the promotion.

Spike and the Ultimate Fighting Championship have lined up four of the UFC's most highly regarded fights of the year from its three most recent pay-per-view events, highlighted by Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria.

The fights airing in the UFC Main Events telecast include the following:

UFC 102: RANDY COUTURE vs. ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA
This highly-anticipated battle featured UFC legend and former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy Couture against former Pride heavyweight and then UFC interim heavyweight king Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

UFC 103: VITOR BELFORT vs. RICH FRANKLIN
A battle of veteran former UFC champions featured former light heavyweight champ Vitor Belfort returning to the Octagon against former UFC middleweight champ Rich Franklin.

UFC 101: B.J. PENN vs. KENNY FLORIAN
Lightweight champion B.J. Penn, in his second title defense, took on top contender Kenny Florian in a battle of Brazilian jiu-jitsu experts.

UFC 101: FORREST GRIFFIN vs. ANDERSON SILVA
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva moved up in weight class for a non-title bout against former UFC light heavyweight champ and "The Ultimate Fighter 1" winner Forrest Griffin.

Video Preview for Monday Night's Countdown to UFC 104

Countdown to UFC 104 -- featuring UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua -- premiers Monday night at 11 p.m. ET on Spike TV.

Spike TV To Show UFC 100 Bouts, Countering Strikeforce

PRESS RELEASE:

Spike TV will present a special cable telecast of some of the most exciting bouts from UFC 100, one of the biggest nights in the history of mixed martial arts, on Saturday, August 15 at 10:00pm-12:30am ET/PT. Featuring Brock Lesnar's coronation as heavyweight king and Dan Henderson's must-see knockout over Michael Bisping, the Spike TV telecast marks the first time that bouts from this landmark event will be televised off of Pay-Per-View.

Emanating from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV on July 11, 2009, UFC 100 was a milestone event in the 16-year history of the UFC organization. The Spike TV telecast of UFC 100* includes the following fights:

Heavyweight Championship Bout
Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir

Middleweights
Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping

Middleweights
Alan Belcher vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Light Heavyweights
Stephan Bonnar vs. Mark Coleman

Lightweights
Shannon Gurgerty vs. Matt Grice

Light Heavyweights
Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien

*(due to time constraints- not all fights from UFC 100 can be shown)

Amir Sadollah Video Blog: Training for UFC 101

Amir Sadollah is in with his second installment of the furiously popular training blogs for his fight at UFC 101 this weekend. And the games are over...

(Courtesy of Spike.com)

Spike TV Top 100 UFC Fights Countdown Begins Sunday Night

Spike TV on Sunday night begins its countdown of the UFC Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Vote on Top 100 UFC Bouts of All Time on Spike.com

PRESS RELEASE:

In celebration of UFC 100, Spike TV will present a 5-part special, highlighting the best 100 bouts in UFC history, as voted on by the fans. Voting will begin on May 1 on Spike.com (Ultimate100.spike.com) where fans can choose their top 100 fights from an extensive list of bouts selected by the UFC and Spike TV.

Each episode of "UFC's Ultimate 100: Greatest Fights" will count down the top 100 with action-packed moments from each contest. The first one-hour installment will premiere Sunday, July 5 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, with the next three episodes airing Monday July 6-Wednesday, July 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. The final episode airs Saturday, July 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, which will conclude a re-broadcast of the entire voted UFC bout.

UFC 100 will air Saturday, July 11 at 10 p.m. live on pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas.

Spike Tops UFC's Top Warriors as New Series Debuts Tuesday

In support of its new series, Deadliest Warrior, which premiers Tuesday night, Spike TV has opened the discussion on the top 7 UFC Warrior's of all time. Who's the top UFC warrior: Royce Gracie, Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, Chuck Liddell, or Matt Hughes?

Each week, a new episode of Deadliest Warrior will pit two of the most feared warriors civilization has ever known against each other. Highly-anticipated showdowns this season include: Pirate vs. Knight, Taliban vs. IRA, Yakuza vs. Mafia, Viking vs. Samurai, Green Beret vs. Spetznaz, Maori vs. Shaolin Monks, William Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu and Ninja vs. Spartan!

Ultimate Fighter 3 Marathon Saturday on Spike

UFC Fight Night 17 Reaches Average of 1.7 Million Viewers

PRESS RELEASE:

Spike TV’s live “UFC Fight Night” in Tampa, FL, the first UFC card in the city’s history, served as a showcase for some of mixed martial arts’ rising stars, and garnered strong ratings in the process. UFC Fight Night on Spike TV ranked #1 in Men 18-49 and Men 18-34 among ad-supported cable for its time period.

The card, which featured Joe Lauzon submitting Jeremy Stephens via armbar in the main event, affirming his spot as a top contender in the lightweight division, drew an average audience of 1.7 million viewers. Overall, the telecast, which emanated LIVE from the USF Sun Dome peaked with a 2.00 rating in M 18-34 and a 1.51 household rating for an average of 2 million viewers during the 10:30 – 10:45 PM quarter hour, which featured the main event.

Overall, the Spike telecast reached 1.7 million people with a 1.60 rating Men 18-34 (462,000 viewers), a 1.55 rating in Men 18-49 (869,000 viewers), and a 1.3 HH rating. It bested huge college basketball matchups on Saturday in key demographics, including ESPN’s men’s college basketball telecasts of Indiana against Michigan State, as well as UConn’s showdown with Michigan.

Versus the same time period from a year ago, UFC Fight Night was up triple digits in key demographics; +319% in Men 18-49, +203% in Persons 18-49, +214% in Men 18-34, and +152% among average audience.

UFC Primetime GSP vs. B.J. Penn Final Episode Tonight, Ratings Solid

The third and final installment of the new UFC Primetime -- Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn 2 -- episode airs tonight on Spike TV at 10 p.m. ET/PT. If you missed it so far, the series gives fans an inside look at the lives and training of St. Pierre and Penn as they ready themselves for their UFC 94 mega-fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The series launched two weeks ago to what Spike officials felt were very good ratings. Each episode airs twice on Spike back-to-back. The first episode debuted to an average of 880,000 viewers during its first airing, followed by a repeat performance that averaged 614,000 viewers, according to Spike TV.

Last weeks episode -- the second installment in the series -- stayed steady on its initial airing with an average viewership of 825,000, while the repeat immediately afterwards drew 435,000.

It will be interesting to see how many fans tune in tonight as excitement for the fight has started to build across the board.

UFC 91 Couture vs. Lesnar Replay Saturday Night on Spike

In line with its usual counter programming tactics, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is scheduled to air a replay of the UFC 91 Couture vs. Lesnar pay-per-view on Saturday night on Spike TV.

Oleg Taktarov Is Huge In Russia (Who Knew?)

"The Russian Bear" Oleg Taktarov was on hand for Affliction's "Day of Reckoning" press conference in Los Angeles, taking in the action from the sidelines of the press area.

The UFC 6 tournament winner has kept quite busy with acting projects in recent years, with major roles in studio films "Righteous Kill," "We Own The Night," and "National Treasure."

Recently, he worked on a reality series set in Atlantic City for Russia's biggest television network. Titled "Back on Track," the show takes ten down-on-their-luck fighters who need a second chance at glory. He enjoyed the experience, but the gambling city soon wore on him.

"I got bored a little bit," he said. "I want to get more excitement."

Spike TV has already offered to carry the show in America, but Taktarov says the producers are not interested.

"It's not just about fighting, it's about accomplishing something in life," he told MMAInsider.

Taktarov, 41, says he is injury-free and is playing soccer in his spare time. Fighting is not on the horizon, but could be...for the right price. He fought twice in 2008, ending a nine-year layoff from the sport.

"Once I get good offer in the right time," he said. "Those two fights, they came at just the right time, they were good money."

UPDATE: B.J. Penn Shuts Down Filming Prior to Tonight's UFC Primetime

The second installment of UFC Primetime -- featuring a behind the scenes look at Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn leading up to their mega-fight next week at UFC 94 -- airs tonight on Spike TV, although not without a little more controversy than might have been planned.

During recent taping for the "up to the minute" series, Penn apparently became disenchanted with the way he was being portrayed on the show, according to a report on MMAJunkie.com, and cut off filming in the middle of an interview segment, denying further access to his gym.

(UPDATE) MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday spoke with Penn's press representatives who did confirm the report with J.D. Penn, the fighter's brother/manager. J.D. verified that it is true that B.J. was unhappy with his portrayal on Primetime and cut off access to himself and his gym. Neither J.D. nor B.J. would comment any further, other than verifying the fallout.

The ratings for the first episode -- which is scheduled to air on three consecutive Wednesdays on Spike TV -- drew an average of 880,000 viewers for the initial airing and followed with 690,000 viewers in its repeat performance.

The rift with Penn may be another headache for UFC President Dana White to deal with, but Spike TV officials have to be salivating with the added drama to the fiery relationship between White and Penn, which is likely to drive further interest in the new series.