Is Spike choosing lesser fights to favor Bellator?

This Saturday night SpikeTV once again provides a lead in to a UFC PPV by putting on two preliminary fights live on their network.

With a UFC 139 prelim card that includes the charismatic Tom Lawlor vs. an up and coming Chris Weidman, a battle between rising lightweights Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael dos Anjos, and a bantamweight fight between former champion Miguel Torres and Nick Pace; it’s a little surprising that Spike TV has chosen to air fights between Ryan Bader vs. Jason Brilz and Michael McDonald vs. Alex Soto.

And then you look at the Bellator 58 line up including champion Hector Lombard taking on Trevor Prangley in a non-title fight and champion Eddie Alvarez, easily the biggest draw in Bellator, defending his title against an undefeated Mike Chandler and it makes sense why Spike chose a lackluster preliminary card.

The Spike TV prelims kick off at 8PM EST, which is about the same time Lombard and Prangley will be in the cage thanks to the 7PM EST Bellator start time. That means Alvarez and Chandler will be starting during the UFC broadcast on Spike.

Even though Bellator won’t be on Spike until 2013, SpikeTV is already doing their best to help out the #2 MMA promotion in the country. They’re airing commercials, they’re giving CEO Bjorn Rebney and certain fighters time on TNA Impact and other Spike original shows, and now they’re putting on uninteresting prelim fights so MMA fans will be more likely to tune in to MTV2.


source: fiveouncesofpain.com