ROGERS SPORTSNET IS THE EXCLUSIVE HD BROADCASTER IN CANADA FOR THE UFC 126 PRELIMS

Event will be on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific channels

TORONTO (February 1, 2011) – Undefeated featherweight Chad “Money” Mendes makes his UFC debut as part of the preliminary fights for UFC 126 from Las Vegas on Saturday, February 5 at 9 p.m. (ET)/6 p.m. (PT) on the Rogers Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific channels.

Mendes (9-0) spent 2010 as part of World Extreme Cagefighting but transferred to the UFC when the two merged in October of last year. His opponent in the featherweight tilt will be Michihiro Omigawa (12-8-1) fighting in the UFC for the first time since January 2008. The other preliminary fight will pit lightweights Donald Cerrone (13-3) and Paul Kelly (11-3). Cerrone just defeated Canadian Chris Hordecki at WEC 53 in December 2010.  He wasn’t originally scheduled to make his UFC debut at UFC 126, but was asked to step in to fight Kelly when Canadian fighter Sam Stout went down with an injury.

The main card for UFC 126 will be highlighted by the middleweight championship bout between Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort. Silva, the middleweight champion since October 2006, has already set the record for most successful title defences with seven.

Sportsnet Connected will also provide coverage leading up to UFC 126 with nightly reports hosted by “Showdown” Joe Ferraro from Las Vegas during the evening and prime editions starting on Wednesday, February 2. Columnist Mark Spector will also be filing stories for sportsnet.ca.

For even more coverage, sportsnet.ca will have live streaming of the UFC 126 Pre-Fight Press Conference on Wednesday at 4 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (PT), the official weigh-in on Friday, February 4 at 7 p.m. (ET)/4 p.m. (PT) and the Post Fight Press Conference on Saturday night.

Monday’s edition of MMA Connected, hosted by "Showdown" Joe Ferraro from Las Vegas, will feature all the highlights and post-fight reactions from UFC 126.

For all the highlights, breaking news and inside stories from the MMA, tune into MMA Connected with “Showdown” Joe Ferraro every Monday night and log on to sportsnet.ca.

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