— Head-to-head with number two boxing draw Floyd Mayweather’s anticipated fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, UFC 103 will receive the assistance of a Spike TV broadcast. UFC confirmed late this week that Spike TV will air preliminary bouts Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller and Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal prior to the live pay-per-view event.
Set to fill the 9PM-10PM timeslot, the broadcast will air without commercials. It leads into UFC 103, headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort and Junior dos Santos vs. Mirko Cro Cop.
— Sources from UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva’s camp reportedly told SI.com that he is interested in a fight against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. Having finished most of the top contenders at Middleweight and unwilling to fight Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, the heavyweight move–and the large paydays that accompany fighting the division’s big names–is appealing to Silva.
Manager Ed Soares confirmed that UFC was receptive to the idea, though a fight between the two is far from finalized.
Meanwhile, returning UFC star Vitor Belfort, who Dana White recently touted as a viable challenger for Anderson Silva, said that he would be willing to face the world’s pound-for-pound best despite not aggressively clamoring for the bout.
“Of course that’s a fight I wouldn’t like to do…I like him a lot, no matter what he says”, said Belfort in an interview with Tatame.