The WEC and Spike have announced they will air two WEC 48 preliminary bouts ahead of the promotion’s PPV debut on April 24th. Former TUF competitor Alex Karalexis will take on Anthony Pettis in one bout, while Leonard Garica will take on Asian sensation Chan Sung Jung in the other bout.
New York, NY, April 15, 2010 – Two action-packed prelims from the highly-anticipated “ALDO vs. FABER” event will telecast live on Spike TV from the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA on Saturday, April 24 (9:00-10:00pm ET/6:00-7:00pm PT). “Aldo vs. Faber Prelims Live” will feature former “The Ultimate Fighter” season one contestant Alex Karalexis (10-4) against Anthony Pettis (8-1) in a battle of lightweight (155 lb) contenders and Leonard Garcia (17-5-1) vs. Chan Sung Jung (10-1) in a featherweight (145 lb) contest.
Payout Perspective:
There’s no word yet on whether Spike and the WEC will show more fights if time allows, but I suspect this broadcast will utilize the same sort of decision-making as the UFC prelims: if there’s time they’ll show another fight, but they’ll also look to get an interview in with Dana White and Joe Rogan to help sell the PPV.
I suppose it’s maybe somewhat controversial that this program isn’t running on Versus considering the network has been the WEC’s home for the better part of 3-4 years, but Zuffa is clearly relying on the dense MMA following its built on Spike. It also might be the case that Zuffa doesn’t have prelims written into its Versus contract, and instead chose to use one of the agreed upon Spike prelims (I believe ten was the number for 2010) on a WEC card.
Note: Countdown to WEC 48 has been given a rather weak time slot (Wednesday, April 21st at midnight). Thus, I expect we’ll see several repeats schedule on Spike throughout the week and at better times. That doesn’t include what’s likely to be several runs on Versus, as well.
It’s NHL play-off time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an NHL play-off game on Versus at that time preventing them from showing it on there.