Odds and Ends

• For the second consecutive month, the UFC will air live fights from a pay-per-view preliminary card on Spike TV. Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer and Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Barry will be featured prior to UFC 104 going live from Los Angeles. The UFC aired two fights as an entrée to UFC 103 on Sept. 19. The one-hour special drew a relatively low 1.4 million average rating but was the second most-watched show on cable among men, ages 18 to 34.

• Chuck Liddell’s exposure on one of television’s most popular programs came to an end, as the former light heavyweight king was eliminated from ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” The elimination happened on the highest-rated episode of the season to date, drawing an average of 13.5 million viewers. Liddell’s foxtrot and tango helped him survive four rounds of cuts.

That was not Liddell’s only brush with the mainstream. He lent his voice to an episode of “The Simpsons.” The episode poked fun at both sides of the sport vs. human cockfighting debate. It did not amuse UFC President Dana White, who told USA Today the show’s gags on the nature of the sport and its fans “show you how mainstream we’re not.”

• He came in well over the weight limit, but former UFC titleholder Carlos Newton edged fellow Octagon vet Shonie Carter via decision in the main event of Warrior-1 MMA “High Voltage” on Oct. 10 in Quebec, Canada. Newton missed the 170-pound limit for a proposed title fight and then came in five pounds above a catchweight. He told Sherdog.com he plans to fight next in Japan.

• The Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight Cole Province for nine months following a positive test for the anabolic steroid Methasterone at WEC 42 in August. His unanimous decision victory over Fredson Paixao was changed to a no contest, and Province was fined $4,000.

• Two months after Dream tests the idea, the Deep promotion will bring in a cage for its Dec. 19 slate in Tokyo. Deep “Cage Impact 2009” will feature Masakazu Imanari, Nobuhiro Obiya and Bernard Ackah. The promotion made the announcement during its Oct. 10 show, at which top 106-pound female fighter Miku Matsumoto won her 12th straight fight by taking a sound unanimous decision over “Windy” Tomomi Sunaba at a 115-pound catchweight.