UFC On FOX

UFC has signed a seven year contract with FOX television network. That means that by the end of this year, there will be no Ultimate Fighter or any other UFC show on Spyke TV. What does the move to FOX give to UFC and the fans of MMA? Could other MMA promotions profit from this deal?

First of all, FOX can be reached by way more people than Spyke, secondly the deal states that UFC material will be shown not only on FOX but also on other two channels controled by FOX. That provides UFC with many more viewers than Spyke could provide. A lot of people will see MMA for the first time when it starts airing on FOX, therefore it is the next step towards making MMA a mainstream sport.

Financial details of the deal haven't been released, but there have been talks of the deal being around 90 million US dollars a year. That means that FOX might be paying around 600 million dollars to have UFC on their network for the next seven years. UFC president Dana White stated that moving to a national network has been their aim for a very long time. He also said that there will be many changes in the way their shows are presented: ''We want to make it a new start''. Utmost changes will take place in their reality show Ultimate Fighter. From now on all the fights will be shown live, every week. The presentation of UFC pay per views will be changed as well – the gladiator intro is going.

These are big changes for the UFC. Could other MMA promotions use it as a push? Possibly. With UFC leaving, there will be a spot for a Mixed Martial Arts show on Spyke which has a lot of MMA fans amongst its viewers. Biggest, non ZUFFA MMA promotion in the world today is Bellator Fighting Championships. They could and should look into possibility to move to Spyke. It might be complicated as both MTV2 (channel Bellator is on today) and Spyke are ran by the same company. When the time comes to move, somebody else but not Bellator management might make the last decision.

The move to FOX is one of the biggest changes in the UFC history. The deal is not only positive for the UFC, it is great for the sport of MMA itself.