Sports Business Daily has broken some epic news regarding the UFC and Fox.The two parties have agreed to a deal that says that the UFC will air up to four events per year on the major network. The details of the deal should be very enticing for the vas…
The two parties have agreed to a deal that says that the UFC will air up to four events per year on the major network.
The details of the deal should be very enticing for the vast majority of fight fans, with the main points being as follows:
This is believed to be a seven- or eight-year deal with bidding have reached up to $90 million per year.
Programs featured on Spike and Versus, like The Ultimate Fighter and UFC Live, will now be featured on the FX network.
UFC programming will also now make its way onto the Fox-owned Fuel network; however, Fuel has no plans of becoming a UFC channel.
This deal “would have included NBC and Versus and would have seen G4 re-branded as a UFC channel, but those talks recently broke down.”
The SBD article also mentions that the Versus and Spike TV deals with the UFC expire at the end of 2011 and that a deal with Comcast/NBC at one point looked very possible. The UFC also expressed an interest with renewing their deal with Spike, but the MTV subsidiary stated that they had no interest in making a new deal.
In 2005, Spike noted that UFC programs such as Unleashed, Knockouts and Countdown averaged about one million viewers.
This year, those shows are averaging less than half of that—around 492,000 viewers per show.
An interesting note is that “Spike holds the rights to UFC library programming through ’12, including old fights and shoulder programming such as UFC Unleashed.”
Both Fox and the UFC have refused to officially comment on the deal just yet, but multiple sources are reporting that the negotiation is in the record books.
Should things move forward as planned, this move will be huge in making MMA a more of mainstream sport.
UPDATE: 4:33 Eastern Time
UFC president Dana White is telling MMA Junkie that the deal has not yet been finalized.
“We’ve been very smart, and we’ve taken our time and built this thing slowly, just like you do any other business,” he said. “No matter what carrots were dangling out there in front of us, we know we’re in this thing for the long haul.
“We’re not in this thing to make money and everything else. We’re in this for the long haul. We got into this because we love this sport. We’re passionate about it, and what we want to do is build a sport.
“To me, building a sport is where everybody all over the world plays by the same rules. That’s our goal. That’s what we’re working on, and when the right deal comes, we’ll take it.”
As Brock Lesnar was breaking onto the MMA scene in 2007, it was no secret that the former “Next Big Thing” was at one point a WWE heavyweight champion. This did not sit well with a lot of MMA purists, who were willing to completely ov…
As Brock Lesnar was breaking onto the MMA scene in 2007, it was no secret that the former “Next Big Thing” was at one point a WWE heavyweight champion.
This did not sit well with a lot of MMA purists, who were willing to completely overlook the fact that Brock was a former two-time NCAA All-American as a collegiate wrestler.
Lesnar, whose complications from diverticulitis have limited him to just seven MMA fights in four years, has become a “love him or hate him” type of fighter with his sometimes over the top personality.
After a recent interview with online pro wrestling magazine The Wrestling Press, it seems unlikely that Lesnar is making any new fans by giving the WWE a ton of credit for his popularity in MMA.
Bloody Elbow was kind enough to reprint some of the most interesting excerpts:
“I’m not stupid—without the WWE, the WWE made me a household name and increased my value tenfold before I even pursued the UFC. Could I be where I am today without the WWE? Probably not.”
“Could I be drawing the same numbers that I’m drawing? Probably not. I brought a lot of fans over, a lot of crossover fans that I brought, just from the general public and WWE fans, I believe.”
While it would be difficult to find a counterargument for what Lesnar had to say, some fight fans simply have a hard time acknowledging that professional wrestling has helped MMA in anyway.
In Lesnar’s case, it would be ignorant to say that he didn’t instill wrestling fans with some curiosity to check out the UFC and perhaps MMA in general.
Interestingly, UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle will go head-to-head against WWE SummerSlam this Sunday, marking one of the very few occasions when Dana White and Vince McMahon will compete for ratings.
Almost exactly a year ago, MMA fans will probably recall a radio interview with Larry Pepe of MMA Radio where a caller accused Lance Armstrong of giving himself cancer due to steroid use. When Sonnen appeared on ESPN correspondent Jim Rome’…
Almost exactly a year ago, MMA fans will probably recall a radio interview with Larry Pepe of MMA Radio where a caller accused Lance Armstrong of giving himself cancer due to steroid use.
For those who can’t exactly recall the comments in question, the quote reads as follows:
“Lance Armstrong did a number of things, and he gave himself cancer. He cheated, he did drugs, and he gave himself cancer. Well, instead of saying ‘Hey listen, I cheated and gave myself cancer.
“’Don’t be like me’ he actually made himself the victim and then went out and profited something like $15 million from this, ‘Hey, poor me, let’s find a cure for cancer’ campaign instead of just coming clean and saying, ‘Look, here’s what I did, I screwed myself up, and I hope people learn from my mistakes.’ ”
Not like it was ever any sort of secret or mystery, but Yahoo! Sports is reporting that at the UFC 133 question and answer Sonnen hosted last week, he finally admitted who made the call about one year ago.
At the UFC 133 weigh-ins, Sonnen happily answered a fan’s question about the 2010 incident.
“Of course it was me,” Sonnen exclaimed.
“Come on, ‘Was it me?’ I’m a genius. That was the single greatest thing I’ve ever done. I’m so proud of that moment, and I’m disappointed that I’ve outed it, because there are actually people out there who don’t think that was me.”
Sonnen gave some context to the situation, as Yahoo explains:
“Sonnen said he had been preparing to fight Silva in a building named after Armstrong on the Nike campus. He said he’d just watched Floyd Landis make comments ripping Armstrong on television the night before he made his comments.”
The always controversial UFC middleweight admitted that Rome’s questioning had caught him off guard and that it actually caused quite an issue with Nike.
“The guys at Nike really think it’s not me,” Sonnen said.
“So, they’ve got this high-tech sound equipment at Nike in something they call ‘The Hive,’ where they make their commercials that are aired throughout the whole world.
“It’s like super high-tech and they’re playing the tape of when I said Lance Armstrong, but I denied that I said it versus when I say something else that has the ‘ah’ of Armstrong.”
“There was a different sound in the ‘a.’ So these major players at Nike start to get involved, and they want to crack this forensic code and clear my name.”
Sonnen, perhaps feeling bad for the trouble he caused, sent a Nike representative a text message saying that he would take the blame in this situation.
“I said, ‘Hey guys, you might want to back off on this,’ because I got roughed up on this one and I’m going to have to take the bump,” Sonnen recalled.
Before he concluded, Sonnen also wanted to take a few moments to talk about his UFC 136 opponent, Brian “The All-American” Stann.
Since the fight was made official, Sonnen has maintained that he likes Stann as a person and respects him as a fighter, and therefore would not engage in any trash talking.
He kept that trend steady here, although his comments were in a rather lighthearted tone.
“Brian Stann is a great guy. I wrote him in and voted for him for the President of the United States in 2008,” Sonnen stated.
“I will write him in again in 2012 and when he becomes the legal age of 35 by 2016, per our constitution, I would hope that you all vote for Brian Stann. He is an outstanding human being.”
Well, at least no one will accuse Sonnen for not having a healthy amount of respect for the former Silver Star recipient and Marine Captain.
As has been the norm recently for Sonnen, he couldn’t resist a pro wrestling reference before he called it a day.
“Look, this isn’t 1984. This isn’t Iron Sheik vs. Sergeant Slaughter. I’m not going to walk to the ring in curled-up boots looking for a camel clutch,” Sonnen assured.
“I’m not the bad guy here. He’s an American. I’m an American, too. He loves the USA. I love the USA, but on Oct. 8 in Houston, Texas, there’s going to be a red, white and blue ***-whipping.”
Sonnen and Stann meet in the co-main event at UFC 136. The event is hosted at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, on October 8.
Chael Sonnen hosted a Question and Answer Session in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this past Friday prior to UFC 133.MMA Fighting was kind enough to provide the video highlights of the entertaining session. The embattled UFC middleweight told the …
Chael Sonnen hosted a Question and Answer Session in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this past Friday prior to UFC 133.
MMA Fighting was kind enough to provide the video highlights of the entertaining session.
The embattled UFC middleweight told the crowd the top three people of all time he’d like to fight are Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and “a jerk that cut him off in traffic today.”
Apparently Sonnen was not happy about how the careless driver nearly caused his passenger, Mr. Danger Waffles, to almost “come flying through the front seat.”
For those wondering, Mr. Waffles is actually Sonnen’s dog.
This was just the beginning of many outrageous comments from the outspoken West Linn, Oregon native as he took questions from fans for a good hour.
A little surprisingly, Sonnen gave some credit to team Cesar Gracie, repeatedly calling their fighters “tough” and giving them a ton of credit for how hard they work.
He also acknowledged how hard Jake Shields trained for his UFC 129 fight for Georges St-Pierre, giving the reigning welterweight champion a verbal pat on the back for beating someone with the talent and work ethic and Shields.
It did not take long for Sonnen to turn on the theatrics though.
When asked about what happened with his suspension by the California State Athletic Commission, Sonnen was anything but lost for words.
“Listen here’s what happened, I ended up in some hot water, and I had to go before…I had to go to the principal’s office, okay,” Sonnen explained.
“I was then put before 12 good men who got to decide my fate. They can choose to put me through this door and I’m going to have to go away for a while, or they can send me out the door that I walked in.”
Before the hearing was over, Sonnen, who claimed that he wore a Valor track suit and white tennis shoes and kept his mouth shut prior to this point, said he told the commission:
“Before you decide my fate with this…you can send me that way, or you can send me through that same door I jus walked in, but as a public service, I will get rid of Anderson Silva.”
In the same breathe, Sonnen added, “I will get ride of Lyoto Machida. I will take out the Nogueira brothers in the same night…personally burn Black House down…and they said ‘Mr. Sonnen…not guilty!’ brought the gavel down, and I went out and about my way.”
Sonnen than went off about how much he hates when fighters withdraw from an event, comparing it out to when people call out sick from work.
“I’m not one of these guys that when you go out to buy a ticket to see him, ‘maybe I’ll show up, then again maybe I won’t’,” Sonnen reflected.
Uncle Chael explained that some days, you’re just too sick to go work; however, he criticized how someone “could call out of work 30 days in advance.”
“Little Nogueira cancelled his fight on the Fourth of July….on the Fourth of July! How do you know you’re not going to feel good on August 6? Could one of you guys do that?”
“Could any of you guys pick up your phone, call your boss and say ‘On September 10 on not coming in,’ your boss goes ‘What are you talking about?’ and you go ‘Well, I’m not gonna feel good…I have a feeling I’m gonna have some bad chicken the night before.”
Quite an interesting analogy from Sonnen, to say the very least, and who can be surprised who took a shot at Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Sonnen took it a step further when he mentioned “Oh, everybody’s saying the UFC’s plagued with injuries…the UFC’s not plagued with injuries! The UFC’s filled with cowardly charlatans!”
Brian Stann, and of course Chael Sonnen, were two people the Team Quest standout thought would never pull out of a fight once they had already signed on the dotted line.
Then, Sonnen began to tear into one of his favorite new targets: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
Sonnen actually said that he doesn’t have a problem with Cro Cop as a person, but the fact that Cro Cop is touted as a legend.
“Mirko, time out, there’s two guys in this company that can date their fight careers back to 1997: Dennis Hallman and me,” Sonnen stated.
“I’ve been fighting more than Mirko, I’ve had more title fights than Mirko, I’ve sold more tickets than Mirko, I’ve sold more t-shirts than Mirko, and I had to carry the heavy water,” Sonnen said, referring to his time fighting in smaller promotions.
Mirko was essentially called a phony by Sonnen, since the former All-American wrestler feels that Cro Cop really hasn’t contributed anything to the sport.
Meanwhile, Sonnen took credit for getting MMA legalized in Oregon, and then criticized Cro Cop for being a high ranking government official in Croatia, a country that does not even televise the UFC.
At least as far as Chael Sonnen is concerned.
“So what in the blue hell has he done for anybody besides fall down?” Sonnen asked.
“That guy’s been dropped more times than the ball at times square, that guys hit the ground more times than the 80 second air born, you guys like that? Should I keep going?”
“That guy’s fallen down more times than an epileptic’s dropped his keys! It’s true,” Sonnen said, telling Cro Cop to go back to “fake wrasslin,” of course referring to the heavyweight’s days in Pride.
Chael then referred to his upcoming fight with Brian Stann as “the first defense of his middleweight championship,” and hammed it up from there as a young fan attempted to ask him a question.
“The people’s champion, the linear champion…undefeated and undisputed. The best there is, the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be. Thank you Brett Hart…Go ahead young man, what were you saying.”
Interesting, Sonnen acknowledged that Stann can beat him, and that he can beat Stann, as well as the fact that he is open to a rematch with Yushin Okami whether or not Okami beats Anderson Silva at UFC 134.
From there, Sonnen couldn’t resist taking some shots at the reigning UFC middle weight champion.
“Anderson Silva…What did he ever do? He beat up a one legged Canadian and a math teacher…he beat a bunch of guys that aren’t even good enough to be in the company anymore.”
“It’s like the UFC was his dietician and his lycopene levels were low he was fed so many tomato cans,” Sonnen stated.
For those that are not nutrition experts, lycopene is found in tomatoes, red carrots, watermelons, and papayas, and is thought to be a pigment that can help prevent certain cancers.
Sonnen wasn’t done ripping into “The Spider” just yet, mentioning that while he’s not overlooking Brian Stann, he’d love to have another bout with Silva.
“As far as the triangle, I do give him credit…I mean I’m a little bit embarrassed for him,” Sonnen began.
“Triangle chokes are the refuge of cowards. I would never stoop to that level to lock my legs around another mans head and squeeze, ya know, I only gave him that victory out of sympathy that he even tried that.”
A very odd rationale to consider, and then Sonnen concluded by saying “oh my rib hurts. Yea Anderson, I believe that. Your ribs have the same problem my hands and feet do: they’re attached to a wuss.”
Unexpectedly, Sonnen also took the time to acknowledge the accomplishments Rich Franklin.
“I also am a fan of Rich Franklin, he’s done an excellent job, he’s headlined a bunch of shows, he’s a world champion… let’s make sure I’m not delusional, Rich is very good. It’s just a fun thing to say ‘math teacher’. Who couldn’t beat up their math teacher?”
Sonnen then explained why he thinks a fight between him and Franklin is a logical one.
“But yea listen: I’ll fight Rich Franklin, sure. Matt Linland have got some history, it dates back a little bit. Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin had a fight, their was some controversy around it, and I’m from the same fold.”
“So, ya know, I think it make sense. I’ll go in there and battle Rich. I think his days at 185 are done, he bumped up to 205, he pulled off this card, that’s another guy…that pisses me off guys. That really upsets me when you won’t go fight on a card.”
Even with the vast majority of the interview transcribed, this writer strongly suggests watching the interview in its entirety.
Chael Sonnen, who is finally done serving his suspension from the California State Athletic Commission, has torn into fellow middleweight Wanderlei Silva recently. “The Axe Murderer,” who is set to fight Chris Leben in what promises to be a…
“Sonnen… I kill him. I kill him fast. This guy talks a lot of bull—-, he talks s— about a lot of fighters,” Silva remarked.
The former Pride stand out continued with: “Don’t talk it about me because that’s dangerous, one day we’ll see each other again. I’m gonna want to know why you just hide behind a computer.”
Sonnen has went off on Wanderlei via his Twitter account, insinuating that Pride was a fake fight league where wins were insignificant, comparing it to the World Wrestling Entertainment.
Silva, who has also been called out by Vitor Belfort during his 16 month absence from the cage, made it clear that he has no problem fighting either Sonnen or Belfort in the future.
In response to whether or not he’d accept a fight with Sonnen, Belfort responded:
“Of course, I’ll have him and I’ll have Belfort. Two good names. I’ll fight both. I’d fight Brian Stann but not right now. I don’t like Sonnen or Belfort—it’s better for me.”
Belfort is currently set to fight Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133, after suffering an embarrassing knockout defeat to middleweight champion Anderson Silva in February.
Meanwhile, Sonnen, despite almost a full year of inactivity, is still considered by many the No. 2 fighter in the world at 185 pounds.
While the beef between Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva has been brewing for several years now, a fight between the two never really made much sense.
However, if Silva were to take out Chris “The Crippler” Leben at UFC 132 and Sonnen is able to resume his fight career as planned, a fight between Silva and Sonnen all of a sudden becomes a very real possibility.
Whose interested in seeing Sonnen square off with Wanderlei before the end of the year?
Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit is one of the UFC’s most promising young stars in the welterweight division. Despite being just 27 years old, Condit already has 31 professional fights under his belt, and boasts a quality recor…
Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit is one of the UFC’s most promising young stars in the welterweight division.
Despite being just 27 years old, Condit already has 31 professional fights under his belt, and boasts a quality record of 26-5.
Condit will take on fellow rising star Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 132, in a bout that many feel will be an unofficial No. 1 contender fight to see who has the next shot at the welterweight title.
That shot would be a ways off, as the most recent Strikeforce welterweight champion, Nick Diaz, will start his second stint in the UFC to challenge GSP for 170-pound supremacy at UFC 137 on October 29.
Nevertheless, Condit, a former WEC welterweight champion, is not a long ways off from proving he is among the cream of the crop.
Let’s take a look inside and see which victories have really defined Condit as a fighter.
Sports Business Daily has broken some epic news regarding the UFC and Fox.