UFC 129 Prelims on Spike TV to Feature Diaz vs. MacDonald and Pierson vs. Ellenberger

Spike TV on Thursday announced it would air two live undercard fights leading into the UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields pay-per-view on April 30. The UFC’s main television partner, Spike plans to telecast Nate Diaz vs. Rory MacDonald and Sean Pierson vs. Jake Ellenberger at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

Spike TV has done well with its UFC Live Prelims telecasts, averaging 1.45 million viewers per episode over the series’ history.

“The Ultimate Fighter Season 5” winner, Diaz (13-6) looks to rebound from a decision loss to Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day. He faces MacDonald (10-1), a Canadian making his first appearance in nearly a year, losing by late-fight TKO stoppage to Top 10 welterweight Carlos Condit.

Another Canadian, Pierson (11-4) heads into his fight against Ellenberger with a couple sizeable advantages. He is truly fighting on his home turf as a Toronto native, plus Ellenberger is a last-minute replacement for his original opponent, Brian Foster, who had to withdraw due to a brain hemmorhage. Ellenberger (23-5) does enter the fight coming off a narrow split decision victoria over Carlos Eduardo Rocha at UFC 126 on Super Bowl weekend.

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defends his title against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields in the main event at UFC 129 before a sold-out crowd of 55,000 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.