Starting this Saturday, Sept. 10, with Bellator 49, Spike.com will stream LIVE undercard fights throughout the 12-weeks of Bellator Fighting Championships’ fifth season, marking the first time Spike has streamed live mixed martial arts on their website.
Each week Bellator’s undercard fights will stream LIVE on Spike.com from 7-9 p.m. ET/PT, leading into MTV2’s LIVE television broadcast of the main card at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney commented:
“We are thrilled to join forces with Spike.com. The Spike brand is synonymous with mixed martial arts worldwide and is another member of the MTV family, who does an incredible job in resonating with the hard-to-reach 18-to-34-year-old male audience.”
Bellator 49 takes place this Saturday at Caesar’s in Atlantic City, N.J., and features the quarterfinal round of the fifth season welterweight tournament.
With the UFC moving their non-pay-per-view television programming from Spike to FOX starting in November, it appears this could be the first sign that Bellator could be moving from MTV2 to Spike TV in the future. Both MTV2 and Spike TV are owned by MTV Networks and Viacom.
First things first though, the fourteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter premieres Sept. 21 on Spike TV. So, for a time at least, Spike will be airing UFC programming on Spike TV while airing Bellator on their website. Can we also expect to see Bellator advertisements during TUF 14? Don’t rule it out.