ESPN U.K. will Broadcast UFC

The UFC has found a new broadcast partner in the United Kingdom and it is the World Wide Leader. ESPN announced the deal,

ESPN has officially announced that it will broadcast UFC programming in the UK, starting with UFC 101. ESPN UK, the channel, will be launching on Monday August 3rd on Sky Channel 417 and in High Definition on Sky Channel 443. Virgin Media will also be carrying the new ESPN channel, netting another 3.5 million viewers in the UK alone.    

"ESPN's aim is to serve UK and Ireland sports fans by bringing the very best of both domestic and international live sport to their living rooms. We are delighted to add UFC... to our growing portfolio of live sport," said Jeroen Oerlemans, ESPN's Vice President, TV Channels Europe, Middle East and Africa.    

The UFC lost their U.K. broadcast partner when Setanta sports went bankrupt before UFC 99 earlier this summer. Since then the UFC has been looking for a new broadcast partner in England.

The UFC has scheduled a press conference on Friday and it is possible that this will be the "major announcement" that Dana White teased last week. 

Two international ESPN products broadcast MMA (Deportes and U.K.) while no domestic ESPN channel airs an MMA product.