Imagine Spike TV being the home of K-1 during its peak, and not UFC in its infancy. We would have never been able to witness men urinate in the fruit bowls of other men in The Ultimate Fighter nor could we witness the innumerable amount of Spike TV-to-PPV lead-ins we’ve seen for nearly a decade. Without Spike TV, the UFC would have never been at the level it is today, and without the UFC, Spike TV would have never been able to give MiddleEasy an opportunity to create a show for them, only to pass on it months later.
Albie Hecht, the founder of Spike TV and the former president of Nickelodeon Entertainment sat down with Andrew Falzon (the same guy from WAMMA) and discussed the earlier days of Spike TV and how they nearly went with K-1 Kickboxing over UFC. A lot of interesting stuff is in this six minute interview from CUNY TV, so check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRwa_g1oiAQ
