The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and FOX may soon be done doing business.
The UFC broke major ground when they signed a deal with FOX. The promotion had big events planned for the major TV network, with smaller shows being aired on Fuel TV. The first event on the major FOX channel, which saw Cain Velasquez defend his heavyweight title against Junior dos Santos, drew an average of 5.7 million viewers.
Soon, FS1 was born and Fuel TV became FS2. UFC has played a crucial part in FS1 and FS2 programming. Despite some success with the partnership, the major TV network has its sights set on the WWE. With the UFC’s TV deal with the network set to expire soon, a new agreement is not in place.
In a recent report from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, negotiations between the UFC and FOX may not be going so well (via Reddit MMA user, aase458):
“There is a lot of talk that UFC television negotiations are not going well. The company had hoped to have the deal done by the end of last year, and now we’re almost in April with no sign of a deal being done and the target looks like the summer for an announcement. There have been some stories along with the word on the street that UFC and FOX would likely be done. FOX made UFC an offer but now it looks like FOX is more interested in WWE, as they could get WWE for similar money and WWE would deliver higher ratings. Still, FS 1 and FS 2 have relied on UFC for a live percentage of their programming for years.”
Do you think the UFC will be finding a new TV home soon?
