Official Details Emerge About UFC-ESPN TV Deal

Check out the official details of the UFC’s blockbuster new deal with ESPN:

The post Official Details Emerge About UFC-ESPN TV Deal appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Earlier today the mixed martial arts was shaken by the news that the UFC would be officially moving to sports behemoth ESPN in a huge multi-year partnership.

That news was officially confirmed in a press release from the mainstream network that detailed the full parameters of the massive deal. The UFC had announced a smaller partnership with ESPN earlier this month that would feature 15 events on its streaming service ESPN+ and was worth a reported $750 million over five years, but today’s blockbuster extended that partnership, which is set to start in January 2019, to a lucrative $1.5 billion over five years.

The larger partnership was due to the amount of UFC events set to air on ESPN, which expanded to 10 ESPN-aired Fight Night Events with an additional 20 Fight Night events on ESPN+. All of the preliminary cards for the 12 pay-per-view events a year will air on ESPN as well:

“Starting in January 2019, ESPN+ and ESPN become the exclusive digital and linear distributors in the United States for UFC, showcasing 42 live events, 30 of which will feature a full card of 12 UFC bouts.  ESPN linear networks will broadcast 10 exclusive events as well as all UFC pay-per-view preliminary fights, while ESPN+, the recently-launched multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service, will offer 20 exclusive events and all preliminary fights for “UFC on ESPN Fight Night” programs.  Events broadcast on ESPN will be branded “UFC on ESPN Fight Night,” while events streamed live on ESPN+ will carry the “UFC on ESPN+ Fight Night” moniker.  With this agreement, the only destination where fans can watch all UFC programming is the ESPN app, and in the future, the full breadth of content will be available on ESPN+.”

Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN President and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks, also detailed the partnership by respecting the passionate MMA fans and expressing his excitement at the deal:

“ESPN’s unparalleled multimedia platform is the perfect home for the UFC and will deliver tremendous value to both parties.  UFC fans are passionate and loyal and we plan to bring the full power of ESPN’s live coverage, powerful storytelling and unmatched distribution to serve them in an unprecedented fashion. We can’t wait to get started.”

UFC President Dana White also chimed in with his view, calling it another monumental day for the world’s leading MMA promotion:

“Every year for the last 18 years, we have taken this sport and brand to another level. We find innovative ways to promote our athletes and build stars. Today is another monumental day for UFC, our athletes, and our fans. We are now part of the ESPN family, recognized around the world as the pinnacle in sports broadcasting. I am very excited for this next chapter for UFC.”

White also told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the live production of the shows would still be controlled by the UFC before he touted his company’s prowess:

“The fans are happy with the way our show is presented, and the networks are too, which is why we get these deals done,” White said. “Our production is incredible. We do an amazing job, and we’ll continue to.”

The UFC’s new deal with ESPN, while most certainly possessing some drawbacks such as the fact it essentially renders the UFC’s own streaming service Fight Pass useless, still cannot be deemed anything less than a home run, as it replaces the UFC’s previous television deal with FOX that averaged a reported $100 million a year.

Switching from mainly FOX Sports 1 and the occasional FOX-aired card to the much broader viewership of ESPN and its many networks will only increase the attention on the UFC, and they received a monstrous increase in revenue to do so.

Despite sagging pay-per-view numbers as a bevy of big names remain inactive for the promotion, the UFC doesn’t seem to be slowing down in any way with the announcement of this somewhat surprising deal.

Do you think the UFC knocked it out of the park today?

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UFC Pay-Per-Views Now Streaming On Amazon

You can now buy UFC pay-per-views on Amazon Prime after WME-IMG and Amazon executives came to a deal, according to Sports Business Daily. The UFC’s television deal with FOX is up soon with the option of renewal, meanwhile, it’s been speculated that Amazon is looking to get into live sports, so who knows what could […]

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You can now buy UFC pay-per-views on Amazon Prime after WME-IMG and Amazon executives came to a deal, according to Sports Business Daily.

The UFC’s television deal with FOX is up soon with the option of renewal, meanwhile, it’s been speculated that Amazon is looking to get into live sports, so who knows what could come of this deal.

FOX currently pays about $200 million a year to broadcast live UFC content, with many events being featured on FS1 and 2, two channels that only come with a premium cable package. Amazon Prime, on the other hand, is available to anyone with internet access, which would certainly broaden their accessibility.

Before the UFC even dreamed of a deal with FOX, they were broadcast live on SPIKE TV up until 2011, when the UFC officially made the switch.

Will Amazon pony up upwards of $200 million a year like FOX is to broadcast live UFC events? Or do you see FOX and the UFC coming to terms on a new deal?

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Rashad Evans Warns Tyron Woodley About Arguing With Dana White

10 years ago, Rashad Evans set the template for success for fighters like UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley; an excellent wrestling base with ever-improving boxing, “Suga” was one of the first wrestle-boxers of his time, and used his skills to win the UFC light heavyweight title. Evans sees a lot of similarities between Woodley and himself, […]

The post Rashad Evans Warns Tyron Woodley About Arguing With Dana White appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

10 years ago, Rashad Evans set the template for success for fighters like UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley; an excellent wrestling base with ever-improving boxing, “Suga” was one of the first wrestle-boxers of his time, and used his skills to win the UFC light heavyweight title.

Evans sees a lot of similarities between Woodley and himself, and not just in terms of ability and style. Both men have crossed UFC President Dana White in the past, and Evans says Woodley shouldn’t even bother going down that road.

The former light heavyweight champion broke down his reasoning during an appearance on The MMA Hour this week:

“At this point, he can’t win this because he fights for the UFC. Dana is the president of the UFC, there’s no way he can win this. Feel the way you feel, but you gotta know whenever the conversation comes up that Dana said this — don’t even address it. Don’t go down that road. I took too many years off my fighting career arguing with Dana: trying to fight Shogun, trying to get a fight with this guy, trying to do all this stuff, but at the end of the day, it didn’t matter that much.

“I just lost time. What do you gain from being right to Dana White? Nothing, you lose a lot. Whether you’re right or wrong you lose. Why even play with it if you want to be a fighter — especially when two of your revenue streams are tied to things that he controls.”

Recently, Woodley has butted heads with White over a number of issues, including his performances against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, his take on race relations in MMA, and his outspoken nature in general.

Woodley has a massive platform as a UFC analyst for FOX Sports and has used that platform to go toe-to-toe with the president, which Evans sees as a pointless battle.

Evans mentioned his past rifts with White, specifically his desire to fight Shogun Rua, which never came to fruition, as well as other fights he’s desired but that White ultimately shut down. Evans says his rifts with White seriously affected his career at times, and the same could happen to Woodley, too.

Do you agree with Evans in that Woodley is fighting a losing battle against the most powerful man MMA – whether he’s right or wrong?

The post Rashad Evans Warns Tyron Woodley About Arguing With Dana White appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

STOP THE LEAKS! FS1 Accidentally Gives Results Hours Before TUF Airs

The Ultimate Fighter series is no stranger to results and cast members being leaked earlier than desired. In most instances, the leak doesn’t come straight from the UFCONFOX official twitter handle, as it did last night. The tweet was quickly deleted, but as is the norm, a twitter user snapped up a photo and the […]

The Ultimate Fighter series is no stranger to results and cast members being leaked earlier than desired. In most instances, the leak doesn’t come straight from the UFCONFOX official twitter handle, as it did last night. The tweet was quickly deleted, but as is the norm, a twitter user snapped up a photo and the […]

UFC Fight Night 85 Ratings: Hunt vs. Mir Draws Huge Numbers

UFC Fight Night 85 did good numbers for FOX Sports 1. The pre-fight show did 323,000 viewers while the post-fight show did 386,000 viewers. The prelims drew 766,000 viewers. The main card drew 1,149 million viewers, which is up from 983,000 viewers that the last UFC Fight Night (Fight Night 83) event drew that aired

The post UFC Fight Night 85 Ratings: Hunt vs. Mir Draws Huge Numbers appeared first on LowKick MMA.

UFC Fight Night 85 did good numbers for FOX Sports 1.

The pre-fight show did 323,000 viewers while the post-fight show did 386,000 viewers. The prelims drew 766,000 viewers. The main card drew 1,149 million viewers, which is up from 983,000 viewers that the last UFC Fight Night (Fight Night 83) event drew that aired on FS1.

UFC Fight Night 85 took place at Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday, March 19, in North America.

FOX Sports issued the following:

FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT: HUNT VS. MIR posted gains of +86% on viewership (1,149,000 vs. 617,000) and +63% among Adults 18-49 (595,000 vs. 364,000) versus the same Saturday last year (FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT: MAIA VS. LAFLARE).

The FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT PREFIGHT SHOW (7:30 – 8:00 PM ET) had 323,000 viewers, making it the net’s fourth most-watched UFC FIGHT NIGHT PREFIGHT SHOW to date.

The FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT PRELIMS (8:00 – 10:00 PM ET) delivered 766,000 viewers, more than double the prelim card from the same weekend in 2014 on FS1 (369,000). Last March’s UFC FIGHT NIGHT PRELIMS aired on FS2 and delivered 280,000 viewers.

The FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHT POSTFIGHT SHOW posted gains of +55% on viewership (386,000 vs. 249,000) compared to the post-FIGHT NIGHT edition of FOX SPORTS LIVE that aired on the corresponding Saturday last March.

FS1’s UFC programming has been strong in the first quarter of 2016. The four FS1 UFC FIGHT NIGHTs averaged 1,424,000 viewers, up +13% on viewership from the same period in 2015 (1,261,000) and up +45% compared to the first quarter of 2014 (984,000).

The event was headlined by a heavyweight bout as Mark Hunt will meet former UFC champion Frank Mir.

The UFC returns to the TV network on April 10th with UFC Fight Night 86.

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Sign of the End Times: FOX Sports Pushes Back ‘UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs. Mousasi’ Main Card to Avoid Competing With Bellator

(Disclaimer: This week’s Bellator show may not actually feature Michael Chandler dancing like a cracker-ass doof and King Mo shaking his head at him.)

Until yesterday, UFC Fight Night 50: Jacare vs. Mousasi (aka The Massacre in Mashantucket) was scheduled to have a six-fight main card beginning at 9 p.m. ET this Friday on FOX Sports 1. But in an unexpected and downright bizarre turn of events, FOX Sports confirmed last night that it will be bumping the first two main card fights down to the prelims — Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz and John Moraga vs. Justin Scoggins — and starting the main card an hour later, at 10 p.m. ET.

This is great news for die-hard MMA fans, considering that the Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2 main card — which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Spike TV, also this Friday — will be wrapping up right around then. So why would FOX Sports make this change on three days’ notice? There’s only one explanation: They didn’t want the first hour of their main card to be blown out by Bellator’s headliners. That’s right, the UFC has conceded the #FridayNightWars scheduling battle to Scott Coker, who is most likely grabbing his nuts right now.

Keep in mind that the entire UFC Fight Night 50 preliminary card will be aired on FOX Sports 1, starting at 7 p.m. ET. And if that broadcast does a weaker number than the Bellator show on Spike, who cares? Prelims aren’t supposed to draw a big number, right? What FOX Sports and the UFC are doing is making sure to avoid any unfavorable comparisons during the meat of their broadcasts; they don’t want the 9-10 p.m. slot on FS1 to be a ghost town because everybody’s down the dial watching a potential dogfight between Pat Curran and Pitbull Freire.

It was a game of cable-scheduling chicken, and the UFC swerved first, which is a shocking turn of events for anybody who remembers the UFC at its ruthless counter-programming peak — the UFC that would book a free Anderson Silva fight on short notice just to bury Affliction. And so, Bellator earns a moral victory, and MMA fans without two television sets or DVR service don’t have to choose which event to watch on Friday. Hell, if you live in Connecticut, you could probably watch both main cards in person, since the venues are only ten miles away. The true winner of #FridayNightWars? The fans.

Follow us after the jump for the current broadcast info and fight cards for UFC Fight Night 50 and Bellator 123 on Friday…


(Disclaimer: This week’s Bellator show may not actually feature Michael Chandler dancing like a cracker-ass doof and King Mo shaking his head at him.)

Until yesterday, UFC Fight Night 50: Jacare vs. Mousasi (aka The Massacre in Mashantucket) was scheduled to have a six-fight main card beginning at 9 p.m. ET this Friday on FOX Sports 1. But in an unexpected and downright bizarre turn of events, FOX Sports confirmed last night that it will be bumping the first two main card fights down to the prelims — Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz and John Moraga vs. Justin Scoggins  — and starting the main card an hour later, at 10 p.m. ET.

This is great news for die-hard MMA fans, considering that the Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2 main card — which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Spike TV, also this Friday — will be wrapping up right around then. So why would FOX Sports make this change on three days’ notice? There’s only one explanation: They didn’t want the first hour of their main card to be blown out by Bellator’s headliners. That’s right, the UFC has conceded the #FridayNightWars scheduling battle to Scott Coker, who is most likely grabbing his nuts right now.

Keep in mind that the entire UFC Fight Night 50 preliminary card will be aired on FOX Sports 1, starting at 7 p.m. ET. And if that broadcast does a weaker number than the Bellator show on Spike, who cares? Prelims aren’t supposed to draw a big number, right? What FOX Sports and the UFC are doing is making sure to avoid any unfavorable comparisons during the meat of their broadcasts; they don’t want the 9-10 p.m. slot on FS1 to be a ghost town because everybody’s down the dial watching a potential dogfight between Pat Curran and Pitbull Freire.

It was a game of cable-scheduling chicken, and the UFC swerved first, which is a shocking turn of events for anybody who remembers the UFC at its ruthless counter-programming peak — the UFC that would book a free Anderson Silva fight on short notice just to bury Affliction. And so, Bellator earns a moral victory, and MMA fans without two television sets or DVR service don’t have to choose which event to watch on Friday. Hell, if you live in Connecticut, you could probably watch both main cards in person, since the venues are only ten miles away. The true winner of #FridayNightWars? The fans.

Follow us after the jump for the current broadcast info and fight cards for UFC Fight Night 50 and Bellator 123 on Friday…

UFC Fight Night 50: Jacare vs. Mousasi

Main Card (10 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1)
Ronaldo Souza vs. Gegard Mousasi
Alistair Overeem vs. Ben Rothwell
Matt Mitrione vs. Derrick Lewis
Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Chiesa

Preliminary Card (7 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1)
Charles Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz
John Moraga vs. Justin Scoggins
Al Iaquinta vs. Rodrigo Damm
Chris Camozzi vs. Rafael Natal
Tateki Matsuda vs. Chris Beal
Sean Soriano vs. Chas Skelly

Bellator 123: Curran vs. Pitbull 2

Main Card (8 p.m. ET, Spike TV)
Pat Curran vs. Patricio Freire
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal vs. Dustin Jacoby
Cheick Kongo vs. Lavar Johnson
Bobby Lashley vs. Josh Burns

Preliminary Card (6 p.m. ET, Spike.com)
Rico DiSciullo vs. Marvin Maldonado
Steve Garcia vs. Kin Moy
Josh Diekmann vs. Mike Wessel
Tamdan McCrory vs. Brennan Ward
Dan Cramer vs. Perry Filkins
Mark Griffin vs. Mike Mucitelli
Pete Rogers vs. Phillipe Martins
Brandon Fleming vs. Blair Tugman
Lucas Cruz vs. Andrew Calandrelli
Matt Bessette vs. Scott Cleve