UFC 129 prelim fights Menjivar vs. Valencia, Patrick vs. Roberts expected to stream on Facebook

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In what should be expected from the UFC in 2011, MMAFighting.com reports that they are planning on airing at least two fights on Facebook for next week's UFC 129 event from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

According to the report, a bantamweight fight between Ivan Menjivar and Charlie Valencia and the welterweight bout between Claude Patrick and Daniel Roberts are being targeted for slots on the Facebook.com live stream.

Available for free for fans by "liking" the UFC's Facebook page at Facebook.com/UFC, the live streams have become a staple for UFC cards since they introduced them in January for the UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event.

The bouts will air in addition to the two preliminary card fights already scheduled for the card in Rory MacDonald vs. Nate Diaz and Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger. If no other fights are added to the Facebook stream, it will leave just three fights not scheduled for broadcast in Jason McDonald vs. Ryan Jensen, John Makdessi vs. Kyle Watson and Yves Jabouin vs. Pablo Garza.

The night's main pay-per-view card is headlined by the Welterweight Championship fight between Georges St. Pierre and Jake Shields in front of a record sold out crowd of 55,000 fans at the Rogers Centre.

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: I hope they add more to the Facebook stream, because John Makdessi should be seen in action, and Jabouin-Garza should be extremely exciting. That said, it's great that the UFC continues to utilize this to make more fights available for viewing. Sure, not everyone who watches the Spike broadcast or orders the pay-per-view will also go online for these fights, but for those that want to see more fights, it's great to have them available.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9113.shtml

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