Author: UFC News

The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced a sponsorship renewal with SafeAuto through 2012. SafeAuto, a leading auto insurance carrier headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, provides coverage to automobile drivers in 15 states.

Under this agreement, SafeAuto has a sponsorship presence in nine different UFC® events throughout the year, including Octagon® signage at select UFC on FOX®, UFC on FX® and UFC on FUEL TV® events.

SafeAuto will continue sponsoring individual fighters during UFC events in 2012. The company has its own “SafeAuto Fight Team,” complete with a website dedicated to information about its sponsored fighters.

“SafeAuto is happy to continue our sponsorship of the UFC,” said SafeAuto President Jon Diamond.  “Fans of the UFC appreciate all the hard work that these athletes put into mixed martial arts.  We look forward to continuing our support for this growing sport, as well as the athletes themselves.”

“SafeAuto has been a great partner for the UFC and we are excited to continue working with them as we get ready for some of the biggest years in UFC history,” Mike Mossholder, UFC Vice President of Global Marketing Partnerships, said.

The SafeAuto Fight Team site includes exclusive interviews, previews, and videos of all the company’s sponsored fighters. There is also official UFC content available directly from the Fight Team website, which can be accessed at http://www.safeauto.com/mma.  The company is also covering UFC on its official blog, called “Play It Safe,” with additional news and information about members of the SafeAuto Fight Team.

The SafeAuto Fight Team can be followed both on Facebook as well as on the company’s “Legal For Less” YouTube channel. 

As part of the on-going initiative against online piracy, Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization, was successful in taking down and seizing the records of www.greenfeedz.com, a website which illegally streamed a dozen UFC® Pay-Per-View events.

The records detail the email addresses, user names, number of events users illegally streamed and the IP addresses of all users who registered to watch pirated UFC events. The website had illegally streamed all UFC PPVs from UFC 130 to UFC 142, and the user records date back to May 28, 2011.

Zuffa will be pursuing these claims through its counsel.

Travel Channel presents an all-new episode of the popular series, “Ghost Adventures” on Friday, March 16 at 6:00 and 9:00 p.m., ET/PT with a re-air at midnight.  This season, the “Ghost Adventures” crew – Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin – is back to investigate the scariest, most notorious, haunted places in the world.  The trio interviews eyewitnesses and historians at each location, arming themselves with the stories of the ghosts they later confront during their dusk-to-dawn lockdowns.  Then they review and analyze their findings with some of the most-respected experts and specialists in the paranormal field.
 
In Friday’s original episode, Zak, Nick and Aaron attempt to uncover the truth behind an unsolved murder at the Peabody-Whitehead Mansion in Denver.  Built in 1889, its first owner Dr. William R. Whitehead was convinced the building was plagued by the spirits of hundreds of soldiers he tried to save from his days as a surgeon for the Confederate Army during the United States Civil War.  After his death, when controversial Colorado Governor James Peabody moved in to the mansion, things only worsened.  The governor was viewed by many as the enemy of the working man and in 1904, the Governor ordered state militia to break union strikes by the region’s gold miners by brute force.  Hundreds were injured in the violence, and dozens were killed as their bloodshed was on the governor’s hands.  All the years of torment are now trapped inside this now empty Grant Street mansion.  In addition to being the site of a suicide, there have been over 120 years of ghostly activity in the building including reports of visitors being pushed up against the wall by unseen forces!
 
UFC Fighter Brendan Schaub joins the trio at the Peabody-Whitehead Mansion in hopes to shed some light on the evil entities in order to learn more about the darkness that lies within the walls of this historic location.  During the investigation in the basement, it gets personal when a spirit calls out Brendan by name, and then reveals new evidence about an unsolved crime.  This turn of events triggers the involvement of the Denver Police Department – currently reviewing the “Ghost Adventures” team’s evidence.
 
“Ghost Adventures” is produced by MY Tupelo Entertainment for Travel Channel.  For MY Tupelo, executive producers are Michael Yudin and Joe Townley.  For Travel Channel, executive producer is Daniel A. Schwartz.
 

The fighters competing in the first-ever international edition of “The Ultimate Fighter” have been revealed.

“TUF: Brazil,” which features UFC notables Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva as coaches, streams in the U.S. on UFC.com (simultaneously as it debuts March 25 in Brazil on Globo) and airs on FUEL TV (air times TBA).

Read more…

Wyoming, home of fighters including Justin Salas and Nate Marquardt, became the 45th state in America to legalize MMA. The milestone came Thursday, March 8 when Governor Matt Mead signed House Bill 87 into law.

The bill, sponsored by Representative Bryan Pedersen, had been unanimously approved by both the state’s Senate and House of Representatives.

The bill outlines the creation of a state mixed martial arts board to oversee and regulate MMA matches.

MMA was not previously illegal in Wyoming, but because it was unregulated, bouts held there were not recognized by other states or on fighters’ official records.

Shown above from left to right are Senator Kit Jennings, Pedersen, Mead and Speaker of the House Ed Buchanan shortly after Mead signed the bill.

Airings
The Ultimate Fighter Live begins on Friday, March 9th on FX with a special two-and-a-half-hour premiere at 9:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CT (tape delayed 9 PM PT/10 PM MT). The series then moves to Fridays at 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT (tape delayed 10 PM PT). TUF Live airs live nationally on DirecTV ch. 248 and DISH-Channel ch. 136. (See international broadcast listings)

Season
The season lasts for 12 consecutive weeks, culminating in the championship fight on June 1st.

Competitors
More than 500 athletes from around the world auditioned. Through tryouts, cuts and background checks, 32 were selected to participate in the series premiere episode, in which they were paired up to “fight in” to the house.

Finalists
After the premiere, the 16 finalists will be broken into two teams of eight by the coaches and they’ll live in a house together for the duration of the season. One fighter from each team will be selected by their coach to fight at the end of each episode and the right to advance in the competition.

Winner
At the end of the season, one man will be crowned THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER LIVE Champion and receive a six-figure contract with the UFC and a custom Harley-Davidson.

Fights
Each weekly fight takes place under the unified rules of mixed martial arts except for in number of rounds. Because TUF Live bouts are technically exhibition matches, they are scheduled for two rounds with a third sudden-victory frame added in case of a tie.

Bonuses
In the first episode, fighters were awarded $5,000 if they finished the fight (by submission, T/KO or other stoppage) within the one round. (Eight of the 16 bouts wound up ending in under five minutes.) At the end of the season, fans will vote on the best fight, submission and knockout out of the series, and each fighter will receive $25,000.

Tournament
While the fighters generally move forward in the competition in a tournament fashion, those who lose their bouts remain in the house and on call to fight. They can be tapped at any time for a wild card bout or to fill in for a fighter who is injured or who leaves the show.

Fighter Stats
The 32 finalists range from 21 to 34 years in age; the shortest are 5’7 and the tallest 6’3”. Pro fight experience levels are between 3 and 26 fights; 9 are undefeated going in to the series premiere March 9. The contestants come from the US, England, Brazil, Mexico, Guam and Northern Ireland. All fighters in the house will compete at lightweight, or 155 pounds,
meaning they must be 156 pounds or under at the official weigh-in 24
hours before their fight.

Coaches
The coaches are current UFC bantamweight (135-pound) champion Dominick Cruz and former champion and current top contender Urijah Faber. In addition to their coaching duties, Cruz and Faber will be training for their championship rematch this summer. The two have fought twice in title fights and are 1-1 in the series so far.

Past Seasons
The series’ previous incarnation, The Ultimate Fighter, was the launching pad for some of MMA’s greatest fighters including Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar and many others. For 14 seasons over the last seven years, The Ultimate Fighter established itself as one of the most intense and exciting competition reality series on television. Past seasons are available on DVD, iTunes and UFC.TV. 

New Format
In its previous format, each season was taped months in advance of its broadcast. This season the segments of events taking place in the house will be taped the week that episode airs, and the fight at the end of each episode will air live in the Eastern and Central time zones (tape delay in the Pacific and Mountain time zones).