UFC planning three November shows/TV deal in the works?
The UFC and Dana White held their pre-UFC 102 press conference today, and there were a few things said that were pretty significant, though the majority of them had nothing to do with UFC 102.
White was asked about adding weight classes, and he said that it was a good possibility, though only lower weight classes. This is how the exchange went:
Question: “What about more weight classes?”
White: “If we do any more weight classes, it’s going to be lower. Adding lighter weight classes.”
Question: “What are the chances of that happening? And how soon if it does happen?”
White: “Very good and probably very soon. We are doing like three fights a month next year
Many interesting nuggets in that exchange. White is pretty much saying that the UFC is most likely going to combine the WEC with the UFC, and that will happen relatively soon. He’s said numerous times that he wants to keep the WEC separate, but if he’s adding these weight classes to the UFC, what’s the point of keeping the WEC as well? He’d have to take all the top guys from the WEC to make those divisions work in the UFC, so I don’t understand how he’d be able to bring lower weight classes to the UFC without combining the two organizations.
Also, White notes that they are planning three events per month for next year. That would be an enormous strain on the UFC’s current roster, and is something that couldn’t be done unless they did merge the WEC in with the UFC. It’s also a strain on the UFC staff and resources. I’m guessing that they are not planning to have three events every month, but perhaps an average of two per month with a few extra events thrown in.
White wouldn’t commit to the fact that the winner of the Maia/Marquardt fight would get a title shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva. White said that he would decide based on what he saw on Saturday night.
Finally, White noted that a deal was done to bring an event to Vancouver, Canada. He wouldn’t give an exact date, but the fact that they say a deal is done is big news. The UFC has tried to bring an event to Vancouver numerous times, but the sanctioning body was hesitant to allow it. White and the rest of the UFC have spent a lot of time trying to state their case to the Vancouver city council, and it appears that the hard work is paying off.
Additionally, according to MMA Junkie, The UFC wants to host three shows in November. The rumored fight between B.J. Penn and Diego Sanchez, long thought to be taking place at UFC 105 on November 14th, will likely headline the yet-to-be-announced event. UFC 106 is scheduled for November 21st, one week after UFC 105, so the “new” event would likely take place on November 7th. Nothing is set in stone, but the UFC is working on the details now.
The news comes as word leaks out that Strikeforce is possibly planning a November 7th event with Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers as the main-event. Is this simply another case of White and the UFC counter-programming the competition? White says no:
I can beat Strikeforce with a show that we’ve aired 790,000 times. I don’t need to do a live event.
However, it appears that is exactly what he is trying to do. The news became even more interesting when he was asked if the event would be on Spike TV or on pay-per-view. His answer was “neither.” Could this be the beginning of the long-rumored network TV deal, perhaps on ABC? He declined to elaborate, but I’m sure we’ll hear more news on this soon.
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Filed Under: News
Wow 3 events a month??? How many are on ppv and how many on TV? ppv #’s may suffer no?
That’s why I said I don’t necessarily believe it. If they merge the WEC into the UFC then they’ll have enough fighters, but they’ll be stretched too thin. I don’t think they have enough staff, etc. to pull that off. I’m guessing an average of two per month…maybe 1 pay-per-view and one Spike “Fight Night” or some European “free” pay-per-view’s on Spike like UFC 105 is. Perhaps an occasional month where they have three events. I think that’s Dana exaggerating a bit there.