Mike Massenzio (UFC)
Massenzio-Vemola, Delorme-Denis will stream live on Facebook
The UFC’s Saturday show in New Jersey now will feature all of its 12 fights in a broadcast of some kind.
The promotion has made the first two preliminary card fights of UFC on Fox: Diaz vs. Miller available via its Facebook live stream. Until Thursday, it was expected that the first two fights of the night would be “dark” matches – available to be seen only by those in attendance at the show. But in keeping with a more than year-old broadcasting philosophy, those two fights now will be available live on Facebook.
UFC on Fox 3 takes place Saturday at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. The four-fight main card will be broadcast live nationally on the Fox network. Six fights on the preliminary card will be part of a three-hour live broadcast on the Fuel TV cable network. And the first two fights now will be shown on the UFC’s Facebook fan page via a live stream. The main card begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox. The Fuel TV broadcast starts at 5 p.m., while the Facebook stream should get under way around 4 p.m.
Those two fights will be a middleweight bout between Mike Massenzio and Karlos Vemola and a bantamweight bout between Nick Denis and Roland Delorme. Massenzio and Vemola each have lost two of their last three fights and are coming off losses. Delorme, a cast member on Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and Denis both are coming off of wins in their UFC debuts. Delorme submitted TUF 14 housemate Josh Ferguson at the TUF 14 Finale in December, while Denis picked up a Knockout of the Night bonus for a 22-second stoppage of Joseph Sandoval at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller.
UFC on Fox 3 features a main event lightweight contenders bout between TUF 5 winner Nate Diaz and Jim Miller, winner of eight of his last nine fights. The main card also will feature a heavyweight bout between Pat Barry and Lavar Johnson, a welterweight contenders fight between Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks and a middleweight fight between Alan Belcher and Rousimar Palhares.