(Time to earn that thing, Effy. Photo courtesy of MMA Frenzy.)

In what will hopefully become a recurring trend, the UFC has decided to air a two-hour commercial-free telecast of UFC 103‘s undercard on Spike TV as a lead-in to the pay-per-view card, according to the OC Register. And why are we being treated to such generosity? Well, MMA-hater Floyd Mayweather Jr. is fighting Juan Manuel Marquez on the same night, and Dana White wants to be a pain in their asses. That’s good enough for us. It’s only a matter of time before the UFC begins counter-programming NBA playoff games and presidential addresses.

UFC 103, which will be headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort, and also features Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos, Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann, and Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg, has a whopping eight fights scheduled for the undercard. It’s hard to imagine all of them will make the broadcast, but we could be seeing the returns of Vladimir Matyushenko and Dan Lauzon, the Octagon debut of Paul Daley, and Efrain Escudero‘s first fight since winning TUF 8‘s lightweight trophy. UFC 103′s full lineup is after the jump.


MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos
Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann
Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg
Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca

PRELIMINARY CARD
Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller
Jim Miller vs. Thiago Tavares
Dan Lauzon vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Paul Daley vs. Brian Foster
Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal
Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac
Rob Emerson vs. Rafael Dos Anjos