Built Ford Tough Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 UFC and Fox agreed to a deal for seven to eight years, starting in 2012, Sports Business Daily reports, citing unnamed sources. While the agreement calls for up to four UFC shows a year on the Fox network, most of UFC's programming currently carried by Spike TV and Versus would move to Fox's FX and Fuel cable channels, the industry trade publication says. Zuffa declined to comment on the report. Spike has been UFC's primary cable outlet since the 2005 debut of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Ratings for UFC's live programming -- Fight Night shows and preliminary cards before pay-per-views -- have remained relatively stable over the years. TUF ratings remain in the 1.0 range despite a time shift to accommodate Spike's new Coal program. Bidding for UFC's programs reportedly reached $90 million annually, Money has never been the only factor considered by Zuffa, which views free TV in North America as a vehicle for exposure and promotion for its core product, pay-per-view entertainment. "We're never going to be in a situation where we're making money on those networks," UFC President Dana White said earlier this year. "We'll have to come out in a situation where we break even. That works." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2011/08/ufc-fox-reportedly-sign-deal/415416/1 Earlier it sounded like it was pretty much a done deal that they would move from Spike to NBC, so this came as a bit of a surprise to me when I read it. Good for the UFC getting on an established network like Fox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guru Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 Awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted August 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 It is official. The Ultimate Fighter is going to air on Friday's and the first UFC card to air on Fox will be on November 12th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted September 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 For those of you that are interested, the November 12th card on Fox will feature the Heavyweight Championship fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Sontos. It was originally scheduled for UFC 139 (or around there) but they decided to pull it from PPV and put it on the Fox card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great iBoldin Posted September 8, 2011 Report Share Posted September 8, 2011 Also, Diaz got kicked from the bout with GSP. It's Condit/GSP now at UFC 137 I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted September 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 Also, Diaz got kicked from the bout with GSP. It's Condit/GSP now at UFC 137 I believe. You are correct. Diaz is now fighting Penn at UFC 137. The guy is a complete moron, though. You get a championship fight handed to you on a silver platter (Condit deserved one over him if you ask me anyways) but piss it away because you are too much of a "badass" to follow company rules when it comes to media promotions and things like that. I'm somewhat disappointed as I was really looking forward to seeing GSP absolutely dominate him, but like I said above, Condit deserves the shot over Diaz in my mind anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great iBoldin Posted September 9, 2011 Report Share Posted September 9, 2011 I think GSP takes either of them out in a classic 5 round bout culminating in a unanimous decision for GSP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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