It certainly is about time for UFC President Dana White to get the prime time, network TV coverage the organization, the sport, and the fans have been waiting for.
On Aug. 16, UFC and FOX announced that they agreed to a seven-year deal. The deal guarantees at least four events a year to be broadcast live on FOX.
The network debut will take place on Nov. 12, in Anaheim, Calif. White and his partners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, will bust through prime time network TV’s door with a stacked fight card featuring the Heavyweight Championship matchup between current champ Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.
Longtime fan favorite, Clay “The Carpenter” Guida, will also be fighting against former WEC champion Ben Henderson.
The deal doesn’t end there.
FOX’s FX channel will also host 32 events and will air the UFC’s reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter,” a show that has contributed to much of sport’s booming popularity since 2005’s first season.
There will also be UFC programming on FOX’s FuelTV and FOX Deportes, which will provide broadcasts in Spanish.
SpikeTV, which has been an accommodating home to the UFC and every season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” is currently airing TUF14, which will be the last season aired on Spike.
“The Ultimate Fighter” is similar to many other reality-TV shows that have the idea putting a bunch of people together and making them live in one house. The only difference is, this house is full of up-and-coming fighters who are battling for a six-figure UFC contract.
The fighters are coached by two UFC legends picked by White and, in true UFC fashion, the coaches fight each other at the end of the season in the live finale.
Some of the greatest fights we’ve ever seen have come courtesy of “The Ultimate Fighter,” most notably, the finale of season 1 when Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar provided what White says is, “The most influential fight in UFC history.”
“We’re excited to be part of the FOX family,” said White. “The UFC is finally where it belongs on the No. 1 network in the country and aligned with the most prestigious sports properties in the world. I’ve always said that the UFC will be the biggest sport in the world and with this relationship it will become a reality.”
It was a long road to greatness for White and his partners, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who bought the UFC in 2001, for $2 million, when it had very little credibility in the sports world and a bleak future.
As the exposure progressed and the sport was introduced to more viewers, fans were beginning to realize that MMA is an art form. These fighters aren’t being brought in from some alley outside the back door of a bar. Instead, these fighters are decorated collegiate athletes and extremely disciplined martial artists.
While boxing and its fighters disappointed fans (and continue to do so) the UFC became the place to go for fight fans to see what they want—good fights. The UFC gained the momentum boxing has lost and many fans have abandoned boxing completely for MMA.
“My brothers Frank, Dana, and I always believed that our passion for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts would help us to build the UFC into a successful global brand and ultimately make it one of the premier sports properties in the world,” said Lorenzo Fertitta, chairman/CEO of the UFC. “The partnership with FOX is a major step in making this a reality and also builds on the great relationship that we already have established with FOX in Latin America, Australia, and Europe.”
The UFC is now a fully global operation. They’ve sold out events in Japan, Germany, England, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, and have plans to do more. There are champion fighters from all over the globe which attracts viewership and new talent in those areas.
Now, they have a major network to push them along and will join the NFL, MLB, and NASCAR, all call FOX home to their biggest events.
“IT’S TIME!”
Joe Fries is a sports writer and golf pro living in Miami Beach, Fla. You can follow him on Twitter @The7thFreezer
