Is UFC close to an ESPN Deal?

Bloodyelbow.com sure seems to think so and it looks to me as if they are on to something. Please god make this happen.

Bloody Elbow can confirm that John Skipper, Executive Vice President at ESPN in charge of content attended UFC 100 as a guest of Dana White. This was the first UFC event he has ever attended.

Is something brewing between the UFC and ESPN? When Bob Ryan said that the producers of PTI told him he had to talk about MMA for five minutes, it made me wonder if ESPN's extensive coverage of the UFC after UFC 100 had something to do with a potential business deal with the UFC.

There are rumors circling that the UFC is in the closing stages of a deal to bring a major live show to network television. Dana White added fuel to this fire on July 21 when he told ESPN radio that he is currently negotiating a deal to bring the UFC to a major network. The UFC's deal with Spike TV is cable-exclusive, but would not prevent a deal with ABC, a network whose sports coverage is entirely delegated to ESPN ("ABC Sports" is now "ESPN on ABC.")

I've avoided reporting on potential UFC network deals for the last year because they come up and fall through so often. But it appears something is brewing between the UFC and ESPN. Whether or not it actually pans out is a whole different story.




http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/7/24/960850/bloody-elbow-exclusive-major-espn

Personally I'd rather have this then even Fedor, no joke.

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

Personally I'd rather have this then even Fedor, no joke.

I could enjoy watching Fedor beating up anyone honestly. I'd love to see him in the UFC before it's too late but his legacy has been set for a while IMO. So yeah I would completely agree that something like this would be FAR bigger for the entire sport.

This would be huge news

http://www.watchkalibrun.com/2009/7/23/960480/e-60-banned-from-the-ufc


The UFC has just banned ESPN from attending future events. Deal not likely.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

http://www.watchkalibrun.com/2009/7/23/960480/e-60-banned-from-the-ufc


The UFC has just banned ESPN from attending future events. Deal not likely.

UFC didn't ban ESPN they just put a ban on E:60. Believe me there is a difference. They just had the Vice president of operations at UFC 100 then subsequently ESPN was directed to discuss MMA more. The deal may fall through like other deals but it won't be because of E:60 lol.

What would mma on espn look like??? I mean Dana has so much freedom with the production of his shows right now and getting a major network to buy in may change the presentation. Just wondering either way it would be a good thing for the sport.

muayjitsu wrote:

What would mma on espn look like??? I mean Dana has so much freedom with the production of his shows right now and getting a major network to buy in may change the presentation. Just wondering either way it would be a good thing for the sport.

Well I'm guessing Joe wouldn't be allowed to say camel's vagina anymore on air.

CombatSports4Life wrote:

muayjitsu wrote:

What would mma on espn look like??? I mean Dana has so much freedom with the production of his shows right now and getting a major network to buy in may change the presentation. Just wondering either way it would be a good thing for the sport.

Well I'm guessing Joe wouldn't be allowed to say camel's vagina anymore on air.

LOL!! Im sure they would want at least one person employed by espn commentating also and it would become a 3 man team.

good stuff combat.. it would be so epic if this were to happen!

I noticed something minor yesterday that is completely unrelated....when I surfed to Yahoo Sports to read the various MMA columns; they were always under the link "MMA". When I went yesterday the "MMA" link had been replaced by a "UFC" link.

thome_nerko wrote:

I noticed something minor yesterday that is completely unrelated....when I surfed to Yahoo Sports to read the various MMA columns; they were always under the link "MMA". When I went yesterday the "MMA" link had been replaced by a "UFC" link.

that has been like that for a few weeks now.

There is no deal better than this one for the UFC, period.