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[thehype]

UFC PARTNERSHIP WITH FOX INCLUDES 4 EVENTS AND LIVE TUF BROADCASTS WITH VIEWER PARTICIPATION

As expected, UFC President Dana White, along with UFC executive and part owner Lorenzo Fertitta, FOX Sports Media Group Chairman and CEO David Hill, Co-President and COO Eric Shanks, and FX President John Landgraf all made the announcement offical that the UFC and Fox have agreed to a partnership. The deal includes 4 major event broadcasts on FOX, 32 events on FX, as well as 2 LIVE runs of The Ultimate Fighter that will feature audience participation, allowing viewers to select the fights each week. "This is revolutionary television right here," remarked Dana White.

http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content10561.html

Let's hear everyone's thoughts. The FOX execs took a couple jabs at boxing...basically saying it's too boring and behind on the times when it comes to marketing. I think it says a lot that a sport that's perceived to be more "barbaric" than the Sweet Science by most non-fans can make it's way back to network television (for the second time mind you) relatively easy. Comments? Questions? Suggestions?

For the record, I think it's going to be very interesting to see the new LIVE format of TUF (The Ultimate Fighter), where viewers get to vote on the matchups before they happen that week.

[daprofessor]

With UFC (MMA) now on FOX, what does that say about boxing?

absolutely nothing.

they are two different sports with totally different demographics. the only thing they have in common is that they are combat sports.

i've never really been a fan of mma/ufc. i tried to watch but i can't. it bores me. don't get me wrong...i respect the sport and it's combatants...i just can't bring myself to watch it.

with that being said....ufc is one organization....headed in one direction. to compare it to all of boxing is ridiculous. boxing is international. there are fights being televised world wide several times a week. stadiums in the uk and germany are filled when guys like the klitschkos fight. boxing is probably the biggest it's ever been in history right now. it's just not in the mainstream the way it once was i suppose. i believe we've been riding a pretty good wave the last few years as far as fights go. promoters do need to step it up....and there is plenty that needs improvement in boxing. i'll take boxing with all of its' flaws any day over ufc.

*sidenote- there seems to be this competition between ufc/mma and boxing....moreso from the ufc/mma side. i hear these guys talk smack about boxing on the regular. why give them a free ride on a boxing website? i come to boxing websites to read/discuss/debate boxing, a sport i love...not ufc/mma a sport i have absolutely no interest in.

[The Ollie Reed F...]

With UFC (MMA) now on FOX, what does that say about boxing?

absolutely nothing.

they are two different sports with totally different demographics. the only thing they have in common is that they are combat sports.

i've never really been a fan of mma/ufc. i tried to watch but i can't. it bores me. don't get me wrong...i respect the sport and it's combatants...i just can't bring myself to watch it.

with that being said....ufc is one organization....headed in one direction. to compare it to all of boxing is ridiculous. boxing is international. there are fights being televised world wide several times a week. stadiums in the uk and germany are filled when guys like the klitschkos fight. boxing is probably the biggest it's ever been in history right now. it's just not in the mainstream the way it once was i suppose. i believe we've been riding a pretty good wave the last few years as far as fights go. promoters do need to step it up....and there is plenty that needs improvement in boxing. i'll take boxing with all of its' flaws any day over ufc.

*sidenote- there seems to be this competition between ufc/mma and boxing....moreso from the ufc/mma side. i hear these guys talk smack about boxing on the regular. why give them a free ride on a boxing website? i come to boxing websites to read/discuss/debate boxing, a sport i love...not ufc/mma a sport i have absolutely no interest in.

I agree with you here. I've tried to give it a good go and like you totally respect the skills and heart needed to compete but it just does nothing for me. I'd rather watch tennis, seriously.

Dana White and everyone in the UFC has/is doing a fantastic for their sport and it would not be a new comment to say boxing promoters should take note. Just the their use of the internet alone (I"m thinking of Toney/Couture) to build buzz for a fight. So simple but boxing totally seems to miss these kind of opportunities.

However it remains to be seen how MMA will fare once another stronger organisation comes along to challenge UFC and it will happen eventually. That and the fighters themselves starting to ask for a bigger slice of the cake. The challenges that boxing has and is facing are yet to really hit MMA (as much as I can see) and it will be interesting to see how they cope.

Would I be right in thinking that UFC can get decent fights on FOX because the purses of the fighters are smaller? my assumption being that boxing now has so many PPV's so they can accomodate the purse demands of the fighters involved. If not then once again they have beaten boxing to the punch (pun intended) on the opportunity to broaden the fanbase for their sport.

[daprofessor]

I agree with you here. I've tried to give it a good go and like you totally respect the skills and heart needed to compete but it just does nothing for me. I'd rather watch tennis, seriously.

Dana White and everyone in the UFC has/is doing a fantastic for their sport and it would not be a new comment to say boxing promoters should take note. Just the their use of the internet alone (I"m thinking of Toney/Couture) to build buzz for a fight. So simple but boxing totally seems to miss these kind of opportunities.

However it remains to be seen how MMA will fare once another stronger organisation comes along to challenge UFC and it will happen eventually. That and the fighters themselves starting to ask for a bigger slice of the cake. The challenges that boxing has and is facing are yet to really hit MMA (as much as I can see) and it will be interesting to see how they cope.

Would I be right in thinking that UFC can get decent fights on FOX because the purses of the fighters are smaller? my assumption being that boxing now has so many PPV's so they can accomodate the purse demands of the fighters involved. If not then once again they have beaten boxing to the punch (pun intended) on the opportunity to broaden the fanbase for their sport.

if any promoter in boxing would try to bring a farce of a fight like toney/couture...they'd be laughed out of business. stuff like that would be a side show in boxing ala butterbean...but in mma/ufc, it's a main event. i think it's laughable when i hear these guys talking about "the ufc has no problem matching the best against the best..blah,blah,blah.." well...the best in ufc has not really been at mma too long. the best at boxing has been at it for a life time. there is no way one can perfect his craft in 10-15 fights in boxing. it's a rare thing to see a guy with that little experience headline a major event on a major network in boxing.

also...ppl talk about ppv's like they are the measure of success. ppv imo has been bad for boxing. at the end of the day...these sports are apples and oranges. they are not comparable. ufc isn't taking away from boxing anymore the the nfl takes away from the nba or mlb. it's crazy talk.