Saturday's UFC 174 prelims move to FX from normal home with FOX Sports

The televised prelims for Saturday’s UFC 174 won’t air on their normal FOX Sports 1 home. They won’t see time on their FOX Sports 2 backup, either.

Instead, four fights ahead of the pay-per-view’s main card will shift to the FX cable network, also part of the FOX family the UFC is broadcast partners with. The programming shift, a UFC official told MMAjunkie, is due to “prior programming commitments” for FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2.

The Drivin’ for Linemen 200 race, part of NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series, takes place at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill. The two-and-a-half hour live broadcast is set to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, 30 minutes after the UFC 174 televised prelims begin.

At the same time, FOX Sports 2, is in the middle of a six-and-a-half hour broadcast of the 24 Hours of Le Mans road race in France.

A normal Saturday night for FX would see movie broadcasts, rather than live programming, so the slot was open for the UFC to slide over for a one-off with the network.

The four fights on FX will air at 8 p.m. ET following a pair of bouts that stream on UFC Fight pass at 7 p.m. ET. The fights include a welterweight fight between Kiichi Kunimoto (16-5 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Daniel Sarafian (8-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC); a women’s bantamweight bout between newcomers Valerie Letourneau (5-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Elizabeth Phillips (4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC); a bantamweight fight featuring Mike Easton (13-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and Yves Jabouin (19-9 MMA, 4-3 UFC); and a lightweight contest pitting Kajan Johnson (19-10 MMA, 0-0 UFC) vs. Tae Hyun Bang (16-8 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

The FX prelims lead into the pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET, which is headlined by a flyweight title fight between champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger Ali Bagautinov. In the co-main event, Rory MacDonald meets Tyron Woodley in a welterweight contenders fight.

UFC 174 takes place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The complete UFC 174 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov – for flyweight title
• Rory MacDonald vs. Tyron Woodley
• Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Cavalcante
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub
• Ryan Jimmo vs. Ovince St. Preux

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 8 p.m. ET)

• Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Daniel Sarafian
• Valerie Letourneau vs. Elizabeth Phillips
• Mike Easton vs. Yves Jabouin
• Kajan Johnson vs. Tae Hyun Bang

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)

• Roland Delorme vs. Michinori Tanaka
• Jason Saggo vs. Josh Shockley

For more on UFC 174, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Mike Easton)