Versus will Air Two UFC Events (You Read that Right)
by Zak Woods on Dec 14, 2009 9:45 AM EST
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MMA fans already knew that Versus and World Extreme Cagefighting had agreed upon an extension to continuing airing WEC events on the Comcast cable sports provider but there is more to this deal than was previously thought.
Writing for Versus.com Ariel Helwani announces another and infinitely more interesting part of the deal,
As part of VERSUS' renewal deal, the network will air seven live WEC fights and two live UFC events in 2010, marking the first time that live UFC events will air on a national sports cable network. Also included in the renewal deal are digital media rights, giving VERSUS.com the ability to air one non-televised fight and behind-the-scenes footage from each live WEC Event.
Talk about a bomshell.
It was believed that Spike held the exclusive cable rights to UFC events but that no longer appears the case. Then there is the issue of what kind of events will Versus show? Will it be global fight cards or will it be an "Ultimate Fight Night" card?
WKR can't wait to find out.
Update: MMA Junkie spoke to a Spike officials who seem cool with the news.
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i still dont get why they extending their contract. versus just lost another 8 or 9 million or so dish network subscribers and they still have the ongoing pissing contest with Direct TV.
Although the NBC deal with comcast will help. Maybe the UFC will be on NBC in 2010….?
@mikefareri on twitter.
The thing is there is a lot of suspicion that Comcast is trying to build Versus into an ESPN type brand. That of course will take some time so an NBC Sports/Versus merger is prob a ways off like the ESPN/ABC Sports merger.
Versus is probably paying a pretty penny to keep the WEC. I am more interested in what happened to Spike’s exclusive cable deal with the UFC. In the press statement they talked about how this was the UFC’s debut on a Sports cable provider (really there are only three ESPN, FSN and Versus). Perhaps that was a loophole in the Spike agreeement as the UFC was hoping to get an ESPN deal
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