The UFC in Canada is going to have a similar television situation as in the United States and Canada will actually beat the U.S. to the punch when it comes to the big change.
All UFC content in Canada moves to the newly re-branded Sportsnet 360 channel starting Monday. Like in the U.S. starting in mid-August with the new Fox Sports 1, Wednesday night being UFC destination night.
Beginning this week, there will be four hours of UFC programming in prime time every Wednesday on the station. It used to be known as The Score until purchased by Rogers cable and being re-branded. The Score has largely been the secondary sports channel in Canada behind TSN, which would be Canada’s closest equivalent to ESPN.
All UFC television fight cards will air live on Sportsnet 360, with live fights mostly on Wednesdays and Saturdays going forward. UFC news shows, countdown shows, feature shows, UFC Unleashed and the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, the latter starting in September, with the key programming will be the key facts of the Wednesday night block.
The key content, live fights and reality show will be identical to the Fox Sports 1 content in the U.S. The first live fights will be Saturday night’s UFC 162 prelims at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The UFC will also produce shows geared for the Canadian market. The most notable is a season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2014 called, “The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia. Patrick Cote of Montreal will coach against Australian Kyle Noke on a season featuring welterweight fighters.
The Score had been the English language home for UFC content, but until this week a lot of the ancillary programming appeared on regional channels. Now everything will be on the same station.
Sportsnet 360 will also be the home of the major WWE programming on Monday and Friday nights, as well as Toronto Blue Jays baseball.