Ion Television is now officially the UFC’s newest broadcast partner.
UFC brass today announced that a trio of UFC 125 fights will air live on the network on Jan. 1 at 8:55 p.m. ET/5:55 p.m. PT.
“I am excited for our fans because I’ve been looking for ways to broadcast UFC prelims free and to as many homes as possible,” UFC president Dana White stated in today’s release. “Ion is the largest broadcast television station group in the U.S., and this deal will put the UFC prelims in almost 100 million homes.”
Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier and Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares will be featured on the Ion Television broadcast.
The New Year’s Day broadcast marks the first time the UFC has guaranteed three fights on a preliminary card broadcast. On Monday, UFC president Dana White said he knew he was making a risky move, but he was exciting at the prospect of an action-packed special.
“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.”
With the official announcement, the UFC 125 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD
- Champ Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (for lightweight title)
- Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann
- Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera
- Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim
- Takanori Gomi vs. Clay Guida
PRELIMINARY CARD (Ion Television)
- Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier
- Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares
PRELIMINARY CARD (Un-aired)
- Mike Brown vs. Diego Nunes
- Daniel Roberts vs. Greg Soto
- Antonio McKee vs. Jacob Volkmann
