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Tonight, August 6th, beginning at approximately 5:45 p.m. ET, UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz begins from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The card is headlined by a three-round light heavyweight bout between #1 contender Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz. It is a rematch of their UFC 73 bout from July 2007. That fight ended in a draw when Ortiz was penalized a point for grabbing the fence. Also appearing on the card are middleweights Vitor Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
So, how and where can you watch this event? Fortunately, there are myriad ways to have your needs met no matter the place, preference or platform. Let's look at the options.
Online
The UFC offers a number of ways to watch every part of their card online. Let's break down the card by viewing options as they change with each portion of the card on to the pay-per-view portion of the event.
For the preliminary card, there are a variety of options. While at least two of the fights from the preliminary card won't be available online (they are exclusive to Spike TV), the rest of preliminary card will be.
For Facebook users, go to the UFC's Facebook page at approximately 5:45 p.m. ET to begin viewing the card. This is free. All one has to do is "Like" the UFC page and you can watch the preliminary card for free.
Historically, the UFC's partnership with UStream has allowed users who purchase their pay-per-view via the UStream platform (at a cost of $44.99) to view the entire fight card top to bottom. I believe that is the case this time as well. Up until then, you can visit the UFC UStream channel to watch a preview of the event streaming for free.
For those who use Yahoo! or have Yahoo! mail, you have options there as well. Simply go to the dedicated UFC 133 page at Yahoo.com and purchase the pay-per-view. Note: unlike UStream, this event will only stream what's shown on the television pay-per-view portion of the card.
You can also go to UFC.TV to purchase and view this event. And if all of this isn't enough, the UFC's got a dedicated page on how to watch their pay-per-view events.
Mobile
The options here are narrow, but still developing as the mobile market emerges. For those who are iPhone or iPad users, you can purchase the event to watch by using the UFC app from the iTunes app store. The app itself is $.99 while the pay-per-view is still $44.99.
On Pay-Per-View/Television
Any cable provider should be able to set you up with the ability to purchase this event or any other UFC event provided to have basic coverage. Whether your cable provider is DirecTV, Comcast, Cox or any other major cable company, you should be covered. If you're not, please list the name of the company in the comments. A comprehensive list of cable providers who carry these events can be found here.
The cost for these events is easy to remember. For standard definition feeds, you'll pay $44.99 while high definition costs $54.99. As a consistent purchaser of high definition UFC events, I can say confidently it's worth the extra $10 for crisp, clear picture.
For those who are users of the Roku set-top box, you can also view UFC events live (although only the pay-per-view portion, not the preliminary card).
And as the UFC recently announced, live fights are coming soon to the XBox.
Don't forget: beginning at 8 p.m. ET, Spike TV will carry at least two fights from the preliminary portion of the card. With time remaining, they may show some from the Facebook/YouTube portion of the card.
At A Bar
The UFC provides a comprehensive, searchable database of bars that carry UFC events sorted by geography. Simply go to bars.ufc.com. From there you can enter your zip code to find those bars carrying tonight's fights closest to you. The results will even pull up the bar's number so you can call to ensure they're carrying the event plus inquire about specials or a cover charge.
Last, but certainly not least, here's the fight card laid out by distribution platform, time and segment:
Main Card (Airing on Pay-Per-View @ 9 p.m. ET):
Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Dennis Hallman vs. Brian Ebersole
Jorge Rivera vs. Constantinos Phillippou
Rory MacDonald vs. Mike Pyle
Preliminary Bouts (Airing on Spike TV @ 8 p.m. ET):
Matt Hamill vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya
Preliminary Bouts (Airing on Facebook @ 5:45 p.m. ET):
Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace
Johny Hendricks vs. Mike Pierce
Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan
Rafael "Sapo" Natal vs. Paul Bradley
For more analysis, follow MMA Nation (@MMANation) and Nate Wilcox (@KidNate) on Twitter.
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