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Spike's live broadcast of UFC 106's preliminary card drew 1.3 million viewers.

The broadcast featured four fights, two of which --the Kendall Grove-Jake Rosholt fight and the Marcus Davis-Ben Saunders fight-- were shown live.

This marks the third time that the UFC has shown a portion of preliminary card live on Spike and we are beginning to see a trend in viewership.

UFC 103's preliminary portion drew 1.4 million viewers as did UFC 104's preliminary card. With UFC 106 drawing 1.3 million viewers it appears that live preliminary cards have a ratings plateau of approximately 1.5 million viewers.

So why can't these preliminary broadcasts out draw an Ultimate Fight Night?

WKR believes it is because fans go to bars or other social gatherings to watch the pay-per view broadcast making it difficult to catch the live Spike broadcast. If anyone has ever gone to a BW3's to watch an UFC event you know you have to arrive early or you will have to stand in the corner looking like an awkward loner...

SBN coverage of UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin 2