Author: UFC News

UFC 134’s bouts will be screened for thousands in Times Square’s Little Brazil – reflective of the fight’s base in Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian birthplace of mixed martial arts. Spike TV’s preliminary fights will broadcast on the digital sign above The Doubletree Hotel on the East side of Duffy Square’s red steps, 47th Street & 7th Ave Saturday, August 27 from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m EST. Never before has UFC offered a viewing of this magnitude.  

After celebrating in the streets of Times Square, fans and interested viewers are encouraged to finish watching the fight at neighboring bars in Little Brazil such as Bowlmor Times Square (W 44th between 7th and 8th Aves.).

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. UFC produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world.
                                                
 

The fourteenth season of Spike TV’s popular original series, The Ultimate Fighter,® will kick off on Wednesday, September 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with a special two-hour premiere featuring all of the preliminary fights in their entirety.  Tune in as 32 of the world’s most promising mixed martial arts competitors begin the quest to advance into the The Ultimate Fighter house.  Beginning Wednesday, September 28, new episodes will premiere at 10 p.m. ET/PT.  

For the first time in franchise history, the bantamweight (145) and featherweight (135) weight classes will be showcased. Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Michael “The Count” Bisping will compete as coaches this season and will eventually meet in the Octagon® at The Ultimate Fighter Finale in December.    

The Ultimate Fighter®: Team Miller vs. Team Bisping cast, whose hometowns range from Gothenburg, Sweden to Winnipeg, Manitoba to Glasgow, Scotland to Yonkers, N.Y. include the following:

BANTAMWEIGHTS

JOHN ALBERT
Fighting out of: Puyallup, Wash. / Victory Athletics
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 24

JOHNNY BEDFORD
Fighting out of: Watuga, Texas/ F3 Alliance
Record: 17-9-1
Age: 28

CARSON BEEBE
Fighting out of: Western Springs, Ill. / Gilbert Grappling
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 22

ROLAND DELORME
Fighting out of: Winnipeg, Manitoba / Winnipeg Academy of MMA
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 27

TJ DILLASHAW
Fighting out of: Sacramento, Calif. / Team Alpha Male
Record: 4-0-0
Age: 25

JOHN DODSON
Fighting out of: Albuquerque, N.M. / Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts
Record: 11-5-0
Age: 26

CASEY DYER
Fighting out of: New Castle, Ind. / No Affiliation
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 21

BJ FERGUSON
Fighting out of: Louisville, Ky. / All-American MMA
Record: 6-2-0
Age: 29

JOSH FERGUSON
Fighting out of: Louisville, Ky. / All-American MMA
Record: 7-3-0
Age: 22

LOUIS GAUDINOT
Fighting out of: Yonkers, N.Y. / Team Tiger Schulmann
Record: 5-1-0
Age: 26

MATT JAGGERS
Fighting out of:  Connersville, Ind. / Team Wolfpack
Record: 20-7-0
Age: 25

TATEKI MATSUDA
Fighting out of: Boston, Mass. / Team Sityodtong
Record: 6-2-0
Age: 25

PAUL MCVEIGH
Fighting out of: Glasgow, Scotland / Dinky Ninjas
Record: 18-6-0
Age: 29
 
BRANDON MERKT
Fighting out of: New Richmond, Wisc. / The Academy
Record: 11-0-0
Age: 27

DUSTIN PAGUE
Fighting out of: Centreville, Va. / MASE MMA
Record: 9-4-0
Age: 23

ORVILLE SMITH
Fighting out of: Indianapolis, Ind. / Integrated Fighting
Record: 11-3-0
Age: 30

FEATHERWEIGHTS

STEPHEN BASS
Fighting out of: Savannah, Ga. / Lloyd Irvin MMA
Record: 10-0-0
Age: 28

DENNIS BERMUDEZ
Fighting out of: Massapequa, N.Y./ Long Island MMA
Record: 7-2-0
Age: 24

DIEGO BRANDAO
Fighting out of: Albuquerque, N.M. / Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts
Record: 13-7-0
Age: 23

MARCUS BRIMAGE
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, Fla. / American Top Team
Record: 3-1-0
Age: 31

BRYAN CARAWAY
Fighting out of: Sacramento, Calif. / Team Alpha Male
Record: 15-5-0
Age: 26

JOSH CLOPTON
Fighting out of: San Francisco, Calif. / Skrap Pack
Record: 4-0-1
Age: 29

AKIRA CORASSANI
Fighting out of: Gothenburg, Sweden / Team Kaobon
Record: 9-3-0
Age: 28

KARSTEN LENJOINT
Fighting out of: Nottingham, United Kingdom / Wolfslair Academy     
Record: 7-1-0
Age: 30

ERIC MARRIOTT
Fighting out of: Independence, Mo. / Grindhouse MMA
Record: 20-5-0
Age: 25

MICAH MILLER
Fighting out of: Coconut Creek, Fla. / American Top Team
Record: 17-4-0
Age: 24

DUSTIN NEACE
Fighting out of: Granite City, Ill. / Hit Squad
Record: 22-17-1
Age: 24

JESSE NEWELL
Fighting out of: Ventura, Calif. / Knuckleheadz Boxing
Record: 6-1-0
Age: 24

BRIAN PEARMAN
Fighting out of: Springfield, Mo. / Springfield Fight Club
Record: 7-1-0
Age: 26

JIMMIE RIVERA
Fighting out of: Elmwood Park, N.J. / Team Tiger Schulmann
Record: 8-1-0
Age:  21

STEVEN SILER
Fighting out of: Ogden, Utah / Riven Academy
Record: 18-9-0
Age: 24

BRYSON WAILEHUA-HANSEN
Fighting out of: Honolulu, Hawaii / MMA Development
Record: 5-1-0
Age: 24
 

“Fox Sports is adding the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the dominant brand in mixed martial arts, to its collection of sports programming. The seven-year deal will include four fights a year on broadcast television in prime time and will pay the U.F.C. at least $100 million annually.”

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read official press release

Today, Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC), the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization and No. 1 Pay-Per-View event provider in the world, finds its perfect media match in FOX, the No. 1 television network in the country. FOX Sports Media Group, the umbrella entity representing FOX Networks Group’s wide array of sports platforms, has reached a multi-year, multi-media rights agreement with Zuffa, LLC, owner of the UFC brand.

The landmark agreement, which puts UFC on par with many of the country’s professional sports organizations, delivers four live events in prime time or late night each year to the FOX broadcast network, home to the country’s biggest sports events, including the Super Bowl, World Series and Daytona 500. The first live event airs Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT. Additional programming on multiple FOX networks launches January 2012 and includes live fights, pre and post shows, countdown shows, UFC Unleashed, UFC Primetime, the UFC Knockout series, Best of Pride, weigh-in specials, and much more original content from extensive Zuffa archives.  The agreement also provides for developing robust mobile and authenticated online offerings to exploit a vast array of digital platform rights.

In spring 2012, THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER, UFC’s signature weekly reality show moves to FX, FOX’s general entertainment cable network now in more than 99 million homes.  With the move to FX, the show will feature a newly-designed format. FX is also set to televise another four-to six-live UFC events annually, with a mixture of additional events and programs heading to FSMG cable networks including FUEL TV.  

“We’re excited to be part of the FOX family,” says Dana White, UFC President.   “The UFC is finally where it belongs on the number one 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.”

“My brother 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 and 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.”

“Mixed martial arts is not only the fastest growing sport in the world, but also the world’s most exciting form of man-to-man competition, and the UFC is the world’s premier MMA organization,” said FSMG President & Co-COO Eric Shanks.  “Since FOX Sports is America’s No. 1 sports network and FOX is America’s No. 1 network for young adults, the UFC on FOX is a perfect match.”

“UFC’s growth over the past decade is nothing short of phenomenal and it has become one of the marquee sports in this country,” said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks.  “There is a reason for its rising popularity.  It features some of the greatest athletes in the world, and we believe it will be a terrific addition to our schedule and look forward to our relationship.”

Founded in 1993, UFC has been on a meteoric rise since 2001 when it was acquired by Zuffa, LLC, owned by Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III and Dana White.  UFC’S first brush with FOX Sports goes back to June 2002, when Fox Sports Net carried UFC’s first non-pay-per-view event on basic cable television, and delivered what was then its largest audience to date.  Through cooperation with state athletic commissions, consistent rules were established and refined for competition through officiating, judging, the addition of weight divisions, length of rounds and better equipment.  Combined with an unyielding devotion to fighter safety, the UFC has vaulted to mainstream status in the minds of US sports fans attracting major sponsors such as Bud Light, Dodge and Harley Davidson.

UFC has displayed tremendous growth in digital and social media consumption. Unique visitors to UFC.com tripled between 2006 and 2010 (2.1 million to 6.3 million), and UFC established local web sites in 10 countries and Latin America.  Using a unique blend of incentives, promotions and original content, including live bouts, UFC has seen its number of Facebook friends increase from 800,000 in 2009 to 6.1 million at present, outpacing the NFL, MLB and the NHL.  UFC currently ranks second to the NBA in social media followers among the major sports organizations.  Additionally, UFC President Dana White regularly interacts with over 1.5 million fans that follow him on Twitter.

Mixed martial arts skews much younger than more established US sports, which ranged from age 43 for Super Bowl XLIV to 61 for horse racing’s Triple Crown in 2010.  Thus far, the median age for UFC on Spike in 2011 is 36 and 56% of UFC fans fall into the adult 18-34 demographic. Live UFC programming performs extremely well in the advertiser attractive, hard-to-reach male 18-34 demographic, with live event programing averaging a 1.53 rating, making it a top-20 cable show this year.

Main card warriors Chris Lytle, Dan Hardy, Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson attended the post-fight press conference in Milwaukee.

$65,000 bonuses were awarded to Dan Hardy and Chris Lytle for Fight of the Night. The retiring Lytle also received a $65,000 Submission of the Night bonus for his third-round Submission of the Brit, as well as a 2012 Harley-Davidson Blackline for winning the main event.

Donald Cerrone received a $65,000 KO of the Night check for his first-round demolition of Charles Oliveira. He and friend/former opponent/fellow WEC veteran Ben Henderson spoke during the press conference of the enduring quality of that brand.

Video highlights from the fighters listed below are linked:
Chris Lytle and Dan Hardy
Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson

Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced today that it has reached a multi-year sponsorship renewal agreement with Harley-Davidson. The world’s most famous motorcycle maker, which first became a core sponsor of the UFC® in 2008, will continue to be featured across multiple platforms including Pay-Per-View and television broadcasts, online, and in the UFC’s famed Octagon®.

On the heels of this major announcement, the companies also jointly announced the launch of a new promotion that gives fans the opportunity to bring a UFC event to their city in late 2012. Beginning next month, fans can visit http://www.ufc.com/hometownthrowdown and vote for their city to win the Hometown Throwdown event. The fully-interactive site will include all of the latest information on the promotion, as well as unique offerings from Harley-Davidson. The city finalists will be announced in early 2012, with the winner being crowned in the spring. The event is expected to be held next summer.

“Harley-Davidson has been a great partner for the UFC since 2008 and we’re excited to continue working with them for years to come,” UFC President Dana White said. “We love keeping the fans involved and so does Harley-Davidson, so we’re also excited to partner with them for the Hometown Throwdown. This is a great promotion. Fans are always asking for us to bring a UFC event to their city and now they’re in control. If they want the UFC in their city, they just have to rock the vote.”

Further demonstrating its commitment to the UFC and its athletes, Harley-Davidson was instrumental in the UFC putting on its first event in the state of Wisconsin last night. In front of thousands of fans at Bradley Center in Harley-Davidson’s hometown of Milwaukee, Chris Lytle defeated Dan Hardy in the exciting welterweight main event. For his victory, Harley-Davidson awarded Lytle with a 2012 Harley-Davidson HD BLACKLINE motorcycle with 103 Cubic Inch Engine.

“We were excited to have the UFC visit Harley-Davidson’s hometown of Milwaukee this weekend for the first time ever,” said Harley-Davidson Chief Marketing Officer Mark-Hans Richer. “To celebrate UFC’s arrival in our hometown, we wanted to present the winner of the main event with a gift that only Harley-Davidson could pull off. So, Chris Lytle is going home with a new, 2012 Harley-Davidson HD Blackline. Now, we look forward to the Hometown Throwdown promotion and giving UFC and Harley-Davidson fans the opportunity to bring a major UFC card to their city next year.”

More information on the Hometown Throwdown promotion will be made available in the weeks to come. Promotion subject to change.

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com.

About Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over 12 UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually around the world.  UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s VERSUS network.  UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 132 countries and territories, reaching 597 million homes worldwide, in 21 different languages.
 
UFC® also boasts a powerful presence online, with UFC.com attracting over six million unique visitors per month, while also possessing one of the most powerful social media followings in all of professional sports. To date, UFC has over six million fans on Facebook and over 300,000 followers on Twitter.  In addition, UFC President Dana White is one of the most accessible and most followed executives in sports with over 1.5 million followers on Twitter.  On January 22, 2011, UFC continued to set trends in social media, becoming the first major sports league to stream live, broadcast quality action on Facebook.

Ancillary businesses include the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards, articulated action figures and other media including best-selling DVDs and a bimonthly magazine.

About Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson Motor Company produces heavyweight custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles and offers a complete line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts, accessories, riding gear and apparel, and general merchandise. For more information, visit Harley-Davidson’s Web site at www.harley-davidson.com.