Bellator MMA is betting that its new Showtime television deal will give it a fighting chance at drawing in combat sports fans. 

The 13-year-old Bellator — after working through several TV deals over the past decade with distributors such as as Spike TV (now Paramount Network), DAZN and CBS Sports Network — has secured a multiyear deal with Showtime that calls for at least two live monthly fight cards to air on the premium channel. 

Under the tutelage of president Scott Coker, ViacomCBS-owned Bellator has solidified its position as the second-largest mixed martial arts promotion behind UFC. The organization launched its Showtime deal last month with three consecutive weeks of live telecasts featuring such popular fighters as Patrício “Pitbull” Freire, Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida.

Coker spoke with B+C/Multichannel News about Bellator’s TV prospects, as well as how it worked through the pandemic. He also looked ahead at the future of televised sports during the interview, which was edited for space and clarity.  

B+C: How big is the Showtime deal, especially coming out of the pandemic? 

Scott Coker: We’re really excited to have a home. It’s been like a family reunion — I started my MMA career on TV at Showtime back in 2007. It’s been a good trip back down memory lane, but now we’re coming in with probably the greatest roster in the history of the company. There’s a lot of great things happening for us.

B+C: What does Showtime bring that’s different from other networks?

SC: When I think about Showtime, I think of premium networks, and I think of all the great fights we’ve watched over the years, whether it was from the Mike Tyson era of the ’80s to Floyd Mayweather. Showtime also had Strikeforce, the MMA company that I used to own before I sold to the UFC. Showtime brings continuity and consistency of our product to our fans, and that’s going to provide a good piece of business for us. Fans know that twice a month, they’ll be able to come to Showtime and watch Bellator MMA. We’re not asking subscribers to add another $69 to $89 to their cable bill to watch our product. For the fans, it’s a great value.

B+C: Is there potential for pay-per-view events?

SC: We talked about that, but right now the philosophy is to put all of our quality fights on Showtime. Subscribers to Showtime are not only getting 40-something [boxing and MMA] fights a year, but also the entertainment shows that the network is noted for. Those big fights that should be on pay-per-view are going to be offered free on Showtime. 

B+C: How were you able to navigate through the pandemic last year to bring Bellator to this point?

SC: We decided to come back last July when we felt it was safe. We got signoff from our corporate owner Viacom to create a bubble at [Connecticut’s] Mohegan Sun and to make sure that we were under the strictest guidelines possible. I think we accomplished that. I think after almost 12,000 tests now at the Mohegan Sun we’ve had a 0.05% positivity rate, which includes the officials, the fighters, the staff and the TV production staff. It was a different experience for everyone, including me.  

Now I think people can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’re going to continue with this protocol until Viacom says we can make some changes: start opening up and traveling and doing flights in different arenas and buildings. We looked forward to it, but until they give us a green light, we’re going to stay inside and operate inside this bubble.

B+C: Do you think the interruptions experienced during the pandemic have enhanced viewer interest for live sports, particularly now as fans begin to return to arenas? 

SC: The reason why sports license fees are through the roof is because it’s live and people can consume it when it’s happening. I can’t wait to go back to a baseball game. I’m a big [Golden State] Warriors fan — I can’t wait to see them play. People are going to continue to sit at home and watch these events however they consume them because people love sports. When they get the green light to start going back to venues, I think it’s just going to heighten the electricity of sports events. This is how important sports is to our culture: when we can all finally walk into a baseball stadium or a fight is packed to the rafters, that’s when I know that things have turned the corner and things are OK.

 Showtime Thursday outlined its boxing event slate for the next five months, highlighted by its June 27 Gervonta Davis-Mario Barrios super lightweight championship fight.

The Davis-Barrios PPV fight is one of nine fights the network has outlined as part of its live boxing telecast lineup that runs through September. The fight cards feature such marquee fighters as Jermall and Jermell Charlo, Guillermo Rigondeaux, David Benavidez and Nonito Donaire, according to the network. 

Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said the fights will take place before a live audience, keeping with applicable COVID-19 safety protocols. 

“High-impact, meaningful fights amongst many of the biggest names and brightest stars in combat sports ...that is what Showtime promises and that is what we are delivering,” Espinoza said in a statement. “With an opportunity to crown an undisputed world champion at 154 pounds, a highly anticipated super bantamweight title unification, a stacked pay-per-view showdown and more than a dozen fights between 118-168 pounds, Showtime is presenting boxing’s best young fighters, all daring to be great by putting their world titles and undefeated records on the line.” 

Showtime’s boxing lineup comes amid the network's April launch of the Bellator MMA franchise, offering at least two live MMA cards a month on the network as part of a multi-year agreement. 

Read also:  Showtime Taps Bellator MMA Events to Help Punch Up Subscribers 

The headline matchups for Showtime’s summer boxing lineup are as follows:

MAY 15 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING

Luis Nery vs. Brandon Figueroa, WBC Super Bantamweight World Title Fight

MAY 29 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING

Nordine Oubaali vs Nonito Donaire, WBC Bantamweight world championship

JUNE 19 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING 

Jermall Charlo vs. Juan Macias Montiel, WBC Middleweight World Title Fight

JUNE 26 – SHOWTIME PPV

Gervonta Davis vs. Mario Barrios, WBA Super Lightweight World Title Fight

JULY 3 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING

Chris Colbert vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa, WBA Super Featherweight Interim Title Fight

JULY 17 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING 

Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Castaño, Undisputed IBF, WBA, WBC & WBO Junior Middleweight World Title Unification Fight

AUGUST 14 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING 

Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. John Riel Casimero, WBO Bantamweight World Title Fight

AUGUST 28– SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING 

David Benavidez vs. Jose Uzcategui, WBC Super Middleweight Title Eliminator

SEPTEMBER 11 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING

Stephen Fulton, Jr. vs. winner of Nery-Figueroa, Super Bantamweight World Title Unification Fight

The National Football League kicks off its 2020 season tonight (Sept. 10) with NBC’s live coverage of Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs game, adding to what is emerging as a cornucopia of live sports content for fans to watch on broadcast and cable networks during the fourth quarter as the entertainment industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak.

The next few months will be an exhilarating and exhausting period for sports fans and network sports producers as the NBA Finals, NHL Stanley Cup finals, baseball’s playoffs and World Series, The PGA Masters Tournament, the Preakness Stakes -- the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown races -- and live NFL and college football regular season games are all scheduled to hit the field. That doesn't include the numerous live boxing, mixed martial arts, tennis and other pro sports events that are also set for action through the end of the year. 

With the launch of the traditional fall broadcast television season mostly on hold due to the pandemic-delayed production of scripted series, networks will lean on those live sports events to help fill the original programming void in primetime.

Just this past Sunday, three of the four major broadcast networks featured live sports programming in a primetime block usually reserved for new, original entertainment content. ABC aired the Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Lakers NBA Western Conference Semifinal game; NBC offered the first game of the Dallas Stars-Vegas Golden Knights NHL Western Conference Finals and Fox stepped into the boxing ring for a live fight card. Ratings have at least been solid and in some cases show there was pent-up demand: NBA games in primetime after the July restart were 80% ahead of the viewing before the March shutdown, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“Usually everybody in the sports business works hard not to have major sports events bump into one another,” said sports analyst Lee Berke. “It’s going to be less so this year because of the pandemic. At the same time you’re going to have primetime nights of the week that are going to be bereft of original programming if not for sports.” 

The sports schedule is getting so packed for NBC that it will move a Sept. 19 Notre Dame-South Florida primetime telecast to sister cable service USA Network so it can televise a live NHL Stanley Cup playoff game.

Berke says while the glut of sports programming could dampen ratings for some live sports events, he believes there is a huge audience of sports fans willing to watch the games, particularly events that feature familiar and popular players and teams. 

“I think there is a big enough audience for all of it,” he said. “Some events will suffer, particularly if the events don’t have stars in place, but the flip side is the cupboard is bare on the entertainment side. You’ll have a much broader audience that will tune into live sports for the foreseeable future.”

The UFC this past Saturday (May 9) held its UFC 249 pay-per-view event, becoming one of the first sports organizations to hold a live event in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ESPN+-distributed PPV fight card from Jacksonville, which featured no fans in the auditorium, generated in the neighborhood of 700,000 buys according to Sports Business Daily, and set the stage for two other live UFC events this week -- one on Wednesday (May 13 on ESPN+) and Saturday (May 16 on ESPN).

I had a chance to speak to UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein regarding the operational strategy behind the mixed martial arts outfit’s successful UFC 249 event -- including dealing with a fighter on the undercard that tested positive for the COVID-19 virus -- as well as whether the UFC has created a blueprint for other sports to follow in the midst of the pandemic. An edited version of the interview appears below.

From your perspective, did Saturday’s UFC 249 event meet expectations?

Absolutely. It was really a product of five plus weeks of work as we drafted and re-drafted an operational health and safety game plan for the event. All things considered we had tremendous cooperation from the Florida State Athletic Commission as well as a robust testing plan, and our fighters delivered what I thought was one of our best cards in UFC history.

Can you confirm published reports that the fight generated 700,000 PPV buys?

I can’t confirm it, but I will echo what (UFC president) Dana White said, which is that the fight did incredibly well and exceeded our expectations. Our partners are really happy.

Is UFC 249’s strong PPV performance due to a pent up audience demand for live sports programming in general or UFC fights in particular?

I think it's definitely both. In this new world that we live in it's so hard to figure out what the consumer is going to do and what expectations should be. Maybe we were a little conservative in our projections, but clearly the event exceeded those expectations. I do think people are starved due to the lack of live sporting content, but I know our fans were really, really hungry for live UFC action because they’ve told us so.

Did you have to make any technical tweaks in how you presented the fights due to the lack of a live audience?

Sure there were some things that we did, but we do have experience in producing fights with limited or few people in the audience, from Dana White’s The Contender series to The Ultimate Fighter. With those shows you could hear the announcers and a lot of things that were said in the corners because of the limited audience. So we had the experience producing those types of events, and we use that experience to produce quality content for UFC 249. Overall even though the experience felt different in the arena, it still had that UFC energy.

Did the UFC ever consider cancelling the event when one of the undercard fighters (Ronaldo Souza), tested positive for the COVID-19 virus?

No. The procedures we put in place worked properly -- we got the test results back before the event took place. We prevented an athlete that tested positively for COVID-19 from participating in the event, so things worked out well. He was isolated for the vast majority of the time he was in Jacksonville -- we feel it worked out exactly as planned.

Do you know when the next big UFC PPV event will take place?

We’re working on a number of different dates and locations … I’m going to leave it to Dana White to make those announcements. I’m just focused on executing the fights tomorrow and Saturday.

Based on the success that you had for UFC 249, do you feel that the UFC has created a template for other sports to follow as they get back to live events?

Absolutely. We are already sharing our experience and plan with regards to COVID-19 testing with all of our partners and friends in the entertainment world. We’ve had a tremendous amount of teams and organizations reach out to us, and we’re looking to share everything we’ve learned. We’re incredibly proud of our plan, but we also want to share our experiences with everybody in the sports world so they can get back to work as well. 

Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s exciting one-punch knockout of top contender Luis Ortiz during their Nov. 23 pay-per-view event effectively concluded In Demand’s 2019 boxing campaign — a year in which the PPV content aggregator survived some early programming body blows from emerging sports streaming services.

Despite losing monthly UFC mixed martial arts events to ESPN+ this past March — and still reeling from the loss of marquee boxing matches from draws such as light heavyweight champion Canelo Alvarez to DAZN in late 2018 — In Demand officials said the company has found its footing in an evolving PPV events ring and is poised for a breakout year in 2020.

In Demand, owned by Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, has reached multi-event distribution deals with Premier Boxing Champions and All Elite Wrestling that will provide at least eight PPV events for its cable affiliates, representing more than 60 million subscribers. With negotiations for other high-profile events currently ongoing, In Demand executives said the reports of the PPV industry’s death at the hands of growing sports streaming services is highly exaggerated.

Money Still to Be Made

“The pay-per-view model is still a good business,” said In Demand president and CEO Dale Hopkins. “For big events, the greatest profits are still in pay-per-view.”

RELATED: Fox Sports Cornering the PPV Boxing Category

The Wilder-Ortiz fight was the sixth major PPV boxing event In Demand distributed in 2019, with four of those fights coming from PBC and Fox Sports. The new multiyear boxing output deal calls for PBC/Fox Sports to distribute a PPV boxing event each quarter, via In Demand. Bruce Binkow, president of Integrated Sports, a sports marketing and operations agency that represents PBC, said the company is bullish about In Demand and the PPV event category.

“Boxing has a long and successful history with the PPV platform … fighters have long known that becoming a ‘pay-per-view attraction’ is the ultimate achievement in terms of notoriety and earning potential,” Binkow said. “Additionally, fight fans are accustomed to gathering friends and family for a communal viewing party when a big fight comes around on PPV.”

For In Demand, the deal solidifies a lineup of marquee PPV fights in 2020 that offer revenue opportunities for affiliates. One of 2020’s first major events of the year could be a potential Feb. 22 heavyweight title rematch between Wilder and Tyson Fury. Their 2018 fight ended in an exciting draw.

“The matchups on PPV are stronger than those on the streaming side,” In Demand executive vice president of programming and general counsel Michael Berman said. “Not only are we getting a large number of fights over the next few years, but we know we’re going to get some great matchups as well.”

In Demand’s long-term output deal with AEW brings a former event staple back to PPV. (It’s unclear if the events will be made available on Turner’s streaming Bleacher Report Live service, as was the case with prior AEW events.) World Wrestling Entertainment had moved its monthly PPV events to its in-house streaming service, WWE Network, back in 2014.

The deal calls for AEW — which launched earlier this year and currently airs the weekly AEW: Dynamite on TNT — to distribute a minimum of one PPV event per quarter through June 2021.

AEW president and CEO Tony Khan said the deal with In Demand is a perfect complement to the wrestling franchise’s basic-cable series.

“PPV is still available in millions of homes, and it's still a convenient and easy way to order events,” Khan said. “In Demand has a great history in delivering big PPV events, and we’ve been able to connect with our fans already through events on In Demand.”

Mark Boccardi, In Demand senior vice president of programming and marketing, added that two previous AEW PPV events performed well for the company, although he would not reveal specific results. “[AEW] has a very energetic leader in Tony Khan; they have a very good stable of wrestlers; they have a Turner deal; and they have the industry's support,” he said.

“They have a lot of ingredients to make a successful PPV run.”

Early Blows in ’19

In Demand’s PPV event prospects for 2020 look a lot more promising than they did in early 2019. The move of UFC’s PPV events to ESPN+ in March was a big loss, particularly since $19.99-per-month subscription service DAZN had already picked off several popular boxers with pay-per-view appeal, including Alvarez, former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, to air exclusively on the streamer.

Fox Sports and Showtime helped filled the PPV event void with several marquee fights in 2019. While none of those events reached the gold standard of 1 million PPV buys, each event generated between 200,000 and 500,000 buys at suggested price points ranging from $65 to $75, according to industry sources.

Fox Sports executive vice president and head of programming and scheduling Bill Wanger said the PPV industry remains a viable option for the distribution of its biggest boxing cards.

“A lot of people forget that ESPN+ is doing PPV under a different model that doesn’t use traditional MVPDs; we think it's important to have traditional MVPDs selling the fight,” he said. “We also have a strong digital buying apparatus, where people can buy our events on a phone or tablet or however they want to watch it. We think we have the best of both worlds.”

Showtime, which distributed a Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner fight in February, will look to distribute two to four PPV events in 2020, according to president of sports and entertainment programming Stephen Espinoza.

“It’s undeniable that the market is going through a lot of changes spurred in large part by technology, but proclaiming the end of PPV is premature to say the least,” he said. “The best strategy for a content owner is to make the content available on as many platforms as possible whenever and wherever the consumer wants it.”

Sports analyst Lee Berke said there’s room for In Demand and the PPV category to coexist with upstart subscription sports services in today’s multiplatform sports TV marketplace, given that both platforms offer quality content.

RELATED: Wrestling Flies High on TV Again

“Purchasing a PPV event and subscribing to a streaming service is just another way of phrasing the same concept,” he said. “Combat sports continues to have strong appeal, but you need enough fighters that are deemed to be quality fighters to maximize revenues.”

Boccardi said the streaming services actually give boxing, MMA and wrestling a boost by exposing more up and coming fighters to fans who will hopefully go on to become major PPV draws.

“I don’t think it's all a negative that you have all of these distribution outlets,” he said. “If you’re a fan of the sport, you can go and watch fighters that you wouldn’t otherwise see.”

In Demand chief technology officer John Ward said the best platform to view high-profile PPV sports content continues to be through traditional pay TV. Current technologies like voice-enabled remote controls and online ordering — as well as new technologies like 5G — will continue to enhance the PPV experience for cable viewers.

“We want to give the consumer as many options and opportunities to get the content as possible,” he said.

This story was updated on Dec. 3. Showtime will look to distribute two to four events in 2020, not 2019.

Sports streaming service DAZN said its decision to take a knee and delay the start of its Nov. 2 Canelo Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev boxing match until after the end of the competing UFC 244 event actually garnered additional signups for its event. 

DAZN officials said the sports streaming service teamed with the UFC to delay the start of DAZN's light heavyweight championship boxing event at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena until after 1 a.m. on the East Coast. As a result of the delay, DAZN executive vice president North America Joseph Markowski said a "significant" number of fight fans signed up for the $20 per month DAZN service after watching the Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal UFC 244 main event bout, although he would not reveal specific numbers. 

“We worked directly with [UFC president Dana White] to stagger the fights in an effort to serve the largest possible number of those fans,” said Markowski. “We agreed that the UFC fight would go first. Ultimately we saw a significant surge in subscription signups and audience growth between the end of the UFC fight and the beginning of Canelo's fight." 

While UFC fans watched Masvidal defeat Diaz after a controversial stoppage on cuts three rounds into their much-anticipated fight, DAZN subscribers were forced to endure a more than 90-minute delay between the co-feature — a first round knockout by emerging lightweight boxer Ryan Garcia — and the main event.

UFC president Dana White, speaking during the UFC 244 post-fight press conference, said that DAZN and the MGM called him Saturday night and requested to show the UFC 244 main event to boxing fans at the live venue who were waiting for the Alvarez-Kovalev fight to begin.

“We got it worked out … to the point where fans could see both fights,” White said.

Alvarez — fighting in the third bout of an exclusive 11-fight deal with DAZN — eventually knocked out Kovalev in the 11th round to take the light heavyweight championship belt.

Several industry observers believe that DAZN's move relegated the sport of boxing to second class status compared to mixed-martial arts.

Markowski dismissed any criticism of its move, adding that DAZN would do it again if a similar situation occurred in the future.

“There are finite Saturday nights over the course of the year, and occasionally there will be clashes,” Markowski said. “We’ll always work on behalf of our existing and potential subscribers to maximize the audience for every DAZN broadcast.”

ESPN Sunday announced its lineup of UFC events for the first three months of 2019, with the first event debuting in January.

The events – part of the network’s exclusive five-year TV agreement with the mixed martial arts outfit – will run over 11 consecutive weeks in the first quarter. ESPN+ will showcase more than 36 hours, with ESPN linear networks airing another 18 hours of UFC content, said ESPN officials.

The UFC kicks off on ESPN Jan. 19 with a live UFC on ESPN+ Fight Night card, with main card bouts streamed live on ESPN+ and preliminary fights shown on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. ESPN’s first distributed UFC pay-per-view event will air Jan. 26, according to both companies.

Date                               UFC Event                                                     Location

Jan. 19                    UFC On ESPN+ Fight Night                              Brooklyn, NY

Jan. 26                   UFC 233 –Pay-per-View event                         Anaheim, CA.

Feb. 2                     UFC On ESPN+ Fight Night                               Brazil

Feb. 9                     UFC 234 – Pay-Per-View event                        TBD

Feb. 17                   UFC On ESPN Fight Night                                  Phoenix, AZ

Feb. 23                  UFC On ESPN+ Fight Night                                TBD

March 2                UFC 235 –Pay-Per-View event                          Las Vegas

March 9                UFC On ESPN+ Fight Night                                TBD

March 16              UFC On ESPN+ Fight Night                                 London

March 23             UFC On ESPN+ Fight Night                                  TBD

March 30             UFC On ESPN Fight Night                                   TBD

Mixed martial arts organization UFC will step into the reality competition octagon for a 25th season on April 19, with its competition series The Ultimate Fighter looking to deliver another knockout season of fisticuffs to fight-starved FS1 viewers.

The series, in which up-and-coming MMA competitors live together under one roof while vying against each other in a series of elimination fights — with the winner earning a coveted UFC contract — is credited with exposing the once-fringe Ultimate Fighting Championship to a mainstream audience.

“The show has been instrumental in the success of the UFC and getting us on television,” UFC president Dana White, who also serves as executive producer of The Ultimate Fighter, told Multichannel News. “It’s also created a ton of talent — not only great fighters that have fought in the UFC, but great champions.”

REACHED HEIGHTS FOR FS1
Launched in 2005 on Spike TV and now airing on FS1, The Ultimate Fighter has produced two seasons each year, providing an entry point both for fans curious about the emerging sport and for athletes vying to become household names on the UFC circuit. The series is the most-watched original series in FS1’s history and has spawned an aftershow, TUF Talk, which recaps each installment.

“Not only are viewers tuning into FS1 to follow the series, but their appetite to go even deeper into the fighters and the storylines has been insatiable,” David Nathanson, head of business operations for Fox Sports, said.

But the show wasn’t always a knockout success. In fact, the first season of the series almost never got off the ground. When UFC pitched the concept of The Ultimate Fighter to networks in 2005, UFC was still in its development stages and perceived as a violent, no-holds-barred entity. The only TV exposure for the sport was though its various pay-per-view events. Cable networks weren’t jumping at the chance to put MMA on the air.

“When we first thought about doing The Ultimate Fighter, the first season was really rough to even launch,” Craig Piligian, CEO of TV production company Pilgrim Media Group and executive producer of The Ultimate Fighter, said. “The perception back then of the UFC was that two men enter the ring and only one man leaves: They thought it was a blood sport and that people really died fighting. We really wanted the show to blow away those misconceptions.”

Finally Viacom’s Spike TV, then a men’s-targeted network, decided to offer the UFC a time buy on the channel. Piligian would forfeit his production fees and the UFC ponied up the cash to launch the first season of the show in 2005. “Dana and I flew around the country looking for sponsors for the show and we couldn’t find one — it was a real nightmare,” Piligian recounted. “I never thought it would go more than one season because you just didn’t know if anyone would support it.”

At the time, though, White and Piligian vowed to create an honest reality show that stayed true to the actions of the fighters both inside and outside the octagon.

“We were sort of winging it, but the thing that has kept The Ultimate Fighter so strong is that nothing in it is fake,” White told MCN. “The most contrived part of the show is when I’m standing there and say, ‘Gentlemen, welcome to The Ultimate Fighter.’ Then it’s game on. Everything that happens is spontaneous and real — it is real reality television. There’s nothing scripted on The Ultimate Fighter.”

Added Piligian: “We didn’t Hollywood it — we gave people a brawl, regardless of whether it was a great brawl or a bad brawl.”

The final bout of the first season pitted then-unknowns Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin in an action-packed fight that many observers described as the fight that officially launched the UFC into the mainstream.

“The first season killed it and the rest is history,” said White. “We literally went into the alley behind the arena after the fight and made the deal for the second season of TUF and the UFC.”

Griffin would win the bout and go on to become the UFC’s light heavyweight world champion, one of six fighters from The Ultimate Fighter to eventually wear a championship belt. “The pinnacle moment for me was in 2005 when I won The Ultimate Fighter because I knew at that moment that my life had changed forever,” recalled Griffin, who now serves as vice president of athlete development for the company. “To me, at its heart the show is about finding the best talents that have the potential to be in the UFC and put them under a microscope and see how they deal with the pressure.”

Added White: “TUF, literally, it is our rookie camp. I really get to see who’s who and what’s what — it couldn’t be any more perfect for me to scout talent.”

The Ultimate Fighter would air on Spike TV for six years before moving to FX as part of the groundbreaking, seven-year TV deal UFC reached with Fox Sports in 2011.

In 2013, the show would move to then newly launched national sports network FS1. That move bolstered UFC’s status as a legitimate sport, White said, putting it on the same platform as high-profile, mainstream properties such as Major League Baseball, NASCAR and major college football and basketball games.

“The Ultimate Fighter has been one of the crown jewels of the UFC portfolio, and since we’ve launched Fox Sports 1, it’s been the No. 1 original series on the FS1 network,” Fox’s Nathanson said.

Added White: “The love that Fox has put behind the show in helping us promote it every season has really helped the show’s success. They’ve done a fantastic job.”

During its run, UFC has tinkered with the The Ultimate Fighter’s format to keep the show fresh and entertaining for viewers. The upcoming season, dubbed “Redemption,” will feature fighters who have competed in previous seasons once again vying for a UFC contract. Previous seasons have included casts of all-women fighters, with Ronda Rousey as a coach, as well as the launch of a new weight division, complete with its first champion, UFC executive vice president of operations Craig Borsari said.

“It’s challenging to try to figure out that right balance between changing up the format slightly and finding the right characters to bring to the house while not alienating the viewers that got us here,” Borsari said. “There are times where we’ve pushed the envelope, but for the most part, we’ve figured out how to keep the core format in place with minor tweaks on the fringes, which has helped this show maintain the longevity that it’s had.”

STORYLINES ‘NEVER DISAPPOINT’
Regardless of the format changes, FS1’s Nathanson added, The Ultimate Fighter consistently delivers a power punch for viewers looking for quality, action-packed fights.

“The Ultimate Fighter never disappoints … eventually what gets you every single season is the actual athletes and the storylines that emerge from them,” he said. “Not only are they incredibly compelling fighters, but they are compelling athletes, and the storylines are able to give people a reason to follow them well after the series, particularly if they’re lucky enough to make it into the UFC.”

As for the future, White said he can see the show continuing to thrive and build its next generation of champions as the UFC continues to grow as a sport. “If the sport continues to grow and more fans make their way toward the UFC, I think the TUF will always be relevant.”

Added Piligian: “Never before has a reality unscripted TV show built a sport, and that’s what this one did and will continue to do.”


SIDEBAR: FROM ‘ULTIMATE’ TO PINNACLE
Six UFC athletes who debuted onThe Ultimate Fighterwent on to become UFC champions:

FORREST GRIFFIN, Former UFC light heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer (won Season 1).

RASHAD EVANS, former UFC light heavyweight champion (won Season 2 as a heavyweight): Evans defeated Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 to capture the UFC light heavyweight championship.

MICHAEL BISPING, current UFC middleweight champion (won Season 3): Bisping, who entered UFC competition in 2006, captured the UFC middleweight title at UFC 199 in June 2016.

MATT SERRA, former UFC welterweight champion (won Season 4): Serra defeated Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69 to capture the welterweight title in what has been described as the greatest upset in UFC history.

T.J. DILLASHAW, former UFC bantamweight champion (appeared on Season 14): Dillashaw, the only fighter on this list who did not win the season in which he competed on the show, lost in the finale to John Dodson, but rebounded to become bantamweight champion at UFC 173.

CARLA ESPARZA, former UFC strawweight champion (won Season 20): In winning the show, Esparza became the global brand’s firstever champion in the newly established weight class.

SOURCE: UFC

Ultimate Fighting Championship’s $4 billion sale to talent company WME-IMG has delivered a powerful financial and brand-building punch to UFC as well as the wider mixed-martial-arts sports category, industry observers said.

The deal, the most expensive purchase of a sports franchise in history, completes a journey begun in 2001 when Zuffa LLC, owned by brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta as well as UFC president Dana White, purchased the then-struggling franchise from Semaphore Entertainment Group for $2 million. At the time, UFC was limited to pay-per-view distribution and was outlawed by many states that considered MMA fighting too violent, but the Fertittas and White slowly created a franchise that now is considered a legitimate pro sport alongside boxing and has strong appeal with millennials.

“Nobody involved in the UFC could have imagined that the franchise would be valued at $4 billion,” said Bas Rutten, UFC Hall of Fame fighter and co-host of AXS TV’s mixed-martial-arts series Inside MMA. “The sale will solidify the UFC, and more people will now be interested in the UFC because they heard about the deal and want to check it out.”

Currently, UFC is in the midst of a multiyear television deal with Fox Sports that expires in 2018. Live UFC events televised by Fox and FS1 have delivered knockout ratings for the networks — thus far in 2016, UFC on Fox fights have averaged a combat sports high of 2.6 million viewers, while Fight Night bouts on FS1 have averaged 1.1 million viewers.

“We’re happy that the hard work and value created by Lorenzo, Frank and Dana has been rewarded,” Fox Sports president and chief operating officer Eric Shanks said regarding UFC’s sale. “We have been thrilled to be a partner on the ride and are big believers in the sport and the stars that have been created. We’re looking forward to beginning the next chapter with [WME] and Dana.”

The deal was also celebrated by owners of other mixed-martial-arts franchises who believe the $4 billion UFC purchase price also builds more value for their franchises and the MMA sport itself.

“It just shows that this industry can be a very profitable one if done properly, and there are people that want to invest in MMA,” said Scott Coker, CEO of Bellator MMA, which is owned by Viacom and offers live MMA events on Spike TV. “To see a number like that is great because the credibility and respectability of MMA is finally coming to the forefront.”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts company has been sold to talent agency WME-IMG, according to ESPN and other news outlets.

The Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts company was sold for $4 billion. UFC president Dana White — who reportedly will remain with the organization — confirmed to ESPN the UFC sale. An official announcement is exepected later today. 

Zuffa Inc's Lorenzo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta and White bought the UFC in 2000 for $2 million, and has since built a multimedia sports organization that has thrived on television. While most of the UFC’s biggest fights have been on pay-per-view, the organization in 2011 reached a seven-year distribution deal with Fox Sports to air live fights, as well as its reality series The Ultimate Fighter, on Fox TV outlets including FS1 and Fox broadcasting network.

 The UFC Saturday completed its UFC 200 pay-per-view event, which generated $10.8 million in live ticket sales. 

To read the headlines, operators and cable networks are on the ropes these days, given recent trends toward time-shifted viewing and its negative effect on ratings.

Still, several networks are fighting back with the power ratings punch of live ring sports.

Live boxing, pro wrestling and mixed-martial arts (MMA) programming continues to deliver healthy ratings numbers for networks like FS1, Spike TV, USA Network, Showtime and HBO as sports fans gather in front of large screen TVs to watch action-packed — and unpredictable — DVR-proof live events that help drivesocial media discussion before, during and after the fisticuffs.

Moreover, distributors are experimenting with new technologies like 4K and virtual reality for live ring sports events, while others are exploring OTT options to allow fans to watch all the action on multiple screens.

“It’s unscripted, it’s live and it’s real,” FS1 senior vice president of programming, research and content strategy Patrick Crakes said. “Two people in the ring together trying to test each other — anything can happen at any second.”

RELATED:Stepping Into the TV Ring: A Sampling of Live Ring Sports Events March 1-May 31

SPOILING FOR FIGHTS

Viewers, it turns out, like a good fight, and lots of them are tuning in to see the action. Spike TV’s Feb. 19 Kimbo Slice-Dada Bellator 149 MMA telecast drew a record 2 million viewers — the biggest audience for the general-entertainment channel this year outside of its hit series Lip Sync Battle. The event was part of the network’s Friday-night lineup of live MMA and pro boxing events.

FS1’s live Ultimate Fighting Championship telecasts in 2015 generated 15% of the network’s viewing audience, while comprising just 12% of its programming schedule, according to Crakes. In 2015, FS1’s 26 live UFC events in primetime averaged 1 million total viewers.

So far this year, four live UFC events on FS1 have averaged nearly 1 million viewers. The network is set to air live coverage of the preliminary bouts for UFC’s 12 pay-per-view events, as well as 15 additional live UFC fight cards.

“All of the network’s UFC programming is trending up year to year,” Crakes said. “It really became a phenomenon — it provides a lot of high-quality content.”

Ring sports — especially pro wrestling and MMA — draw the younger viewers who are tuning out of traditional TV programming more often than not, UFC executive vice president and chief content officer Marshall Zelaznik added.

The median age of UFC’s viewer audience is 37.8 years, which skews younger than that of the major U.S. professional sports leagues by 4.8 to 12.1 years, according to the company.

Meanwhile, boxing is gearing up to build on arguably its most successful year ever, from a pay-per-view revenue and ratings standpoint. HBO has already slated two PPV fights in 2016, the April 9 Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. fight and the May 7 Canelo Alvarez-Amir Kahn bout. It hopes to ride the coattails of last May’s record-setting Floyd Mayweather- Manny Pacquiao event — which generated more than $400 million in PPV revenues — as well as last November’s Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez bout, which drew nearly 1 million PPV buys.

RELATED:HBO's Nelson Looks to Pack a Punch in ’16

A WINNING SEASON

The mixed martial arts and pro wrestling categories are also coming off strong 2015 PPV campaigns, and are looking ahead to big revenue and buy returns this year, Mark Boccardi, In Demand senior vice president of programming and business development, said.

“Ring sports are by nature cyclical, but we’re at a point now where everything has been clicking for these distributors on PPV,” Boccardi said. “UFC had an incredible bounceback year; boxing had its best year ever, due mostly to Mayweather-Pacquiao; and with WWE we still do significant buys for those customers that aren’t subscribing to [the WWE Network over-the-top service, which carries that company’s PPV events].”

As the TV marketplace continues to evolve, network executives said, live ring sports will remain a valuable programming asset for networks looking for a relatively low-cost sports offering — compared with the billion-dollar rights fees commanded by pro sports leagues — that will deliver a unique and loyal audience.

“The value of having a cost-effective sport in today’s sports marketplace can’t be overstated,” said Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president of Showtime Sports, which will mark its 30th year of championship boxing coverage in 2016. “We all know where the industry trend is going in terms of rights fees, so it seems like many programmers have discovered a relatively low-cost barrier to entrytype of sports programming.”

Indeed, networks like AXS TV have relied on live ring sports programming to help build their brand with would-be affilliates and viewers. The Mark Cuban-owned entertainment service has been offering live MMA, boxing and wrestling events on Friday nights for more than a decade.

This year, the network will air 42 live ring sports events, AXS TV Fights CEO Andrew Simon said. The immediacy of the events, and the need to watch them as they’re happening, have helped put the network on the map.

“In today’s television world, we don’t know many people who are watching TV in real time outside of sports,” Simon said. “It’s sports that you have to watch live. You do not want to hear that Holly Holm beat Ronda Rousey and then watch a replay of the fight — you want to watch that live and then be able to join in the social engagement afterwards.”

Even pro wrestling, a heavily scripted but still action-infused genre, has benefited from providing live content to its legion of fans. USA Network continues to draw more than 4 million viewers a week for its weekly, live WWE Monday Night Raw series, which is now in its 23rd year.

The live Raw telecasts allow WWE fans to engage with must-see television every week, while affording USA Network an opportunity to showcase its other programming to pro wrestling’s loyal and committed viewer base, NBCUniversal Entertainment Networks president Chris McCumber said.

“As the most-watched regularly scheduled year-round program on cable, Monday Night Raw is an extremely valuable franchise, with three hours of live, high-octane entertainment airing on USA every Monday night, 52 weeks a year to a massive, passionate, loyal and engaged fanbase,” McCumber said in a statement.

Added WWE chief revenue and marketing officer Michelle Wilson: “While the TV landscape continues to evolve, live, DVR-proof programming remains extremely valuable to both our partners and fans. Live programming also serves as the core of engagement across digital and social platforms and drives the conversation all week long, 24/7.”

SOCIAL-MEDIA STRENGTH

Live content is also a major driver of socialmedia action. Of the 10 most-discussed TV shows on Twitter in 2015, six were live sports telecasts, according to Nielsen.

“It boosts social traffic because people are talking to each other about what they’ve seen on the live telecast,” Spike president Kevin Kay said. “If you have a great knockout or great submission, the first thing that happens is somebody says, ‘Did you see that?’ and that drives viewership and conversation on social and drives up traffic during the fight and after the fight.”

Several networks are working toward making sure viewers can see those big knockouts through technological enhancements like 4K and virtual reality.

UFC will look in the near future to implement virtual reality and 4K-enhanced video for live events offered on its Fight Pass OTT service, UFC’s Zelaznik said.

The subscription-based Fight Pass will offer live coverage of the undercard fights for UFC’s more than 41 live events, as well as more than 110 shows for non-UFC MMA events.

“We think we can provide more value to Fight Pass subscribers and continue to experiment with the new technologies,” he said. “What we can deliver digitally is really high-quality clarity.”

Executives from FS1, AXS TV and Showtime also confirmed experimentation with either or both 4K and virtual reality for their live ring-sports events.

“Virtual reality provides some real opportunities because of its ability to immerse people at home to the experience,” FS1’s Crakes said. “We always hear from our fans that they want the telecast to bring them closer to the event, and virtual reality — if we can make it work inside the home — has that potential. To be able to give everybody a ringside seat is pretty appealing.”

Even more distributors are getting into the live sports ring. Pop will offer its first live TNA Impact Wrestling telecast on March 15. It launched the pro-wrestling series, which had previously aired on Spike TV and later Destination America, in January.

“Impact Wrestling on Pop is must-watch appointment television that delivers a consistent, loyal audience every Tuesday night,” Pop president Brad Schwartz said. “It is 52 weeks a year of original content, including many weeks that are live, like the upcoming live event on March 13.”

El Rey Network may also look to develop live pro wrestling shows based on of its original wrestling series Lucha Underground, according Eric Van Wagenen, showrunner and executive producer for the Mark Burnett-produced reality series.

The sophomore series, which features Mexican pro wrestling content, deliberately does not market or promote episode highlights in advance of its premiere in an effort to replicate the excitement and must-see appeal of a live wrestling telecast.

“It’s absolutely conceivable that we would get to a point of offering a live event,” Wagenen said. “We’re taking a measured approach. The advantage of shooting a season is that it gives us an off-season — we could conceivably supplement the series with live events during that time.”

Also lacing up its live-event gloves is digital company Flipps Media, which earlier this month launched the FITE TV app offering select PPV ring sports events via mobile devices.

Just this past weekend, the service offered six live PPV combat sports events, including Ring of Honor professional wrestling and World Armwrestling Championship events that were also distributed by In Demand, DirecTV and Dish Network.

The FITE TV app can be downloaded from iTunes or Google Play, and provides users the option of streaming a live show on a phone or connecting directly to a Smart TV, FITE senior vice president of marketing Michael Weber said.

Along with live PPV programming, the service has deals to distribute free, ad-supported VOD combat sports content.

OTT IN THE RING

“You can’t be in this business doing live event PPV programming and not look for alternatives to cable and satellite,” Weber said, adding that the company is hoping to secure rights deal with other PPV event distributors.

“We all know cable subscriber numbers are shrinking every year, so this makes sense for all the programmers to be looking at new ways to deliver programming,” Weber added. “We’re not trying to replace cable, we want to supplement it.”

With networks and distributors offering content on multiple platforms, it looks like live sports programming will continue to pack a major punch in the television marketplace for several more rounds.

“There’s more content on cable and over-the-air broadcast networks than ever before,” FS1’s Crakes said. “I’m bullish on ring sports because I believe they are the cornerstone of live sports programming.”

Lead-in programming ahead of the UFC 190 main event -- in which Ronda Rousey knocked out her opponent, Bethe Correia, in 34 seconds (video highlights) -- peaked at 1.6 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 on Saturday (Aug. 1), making it the most-viewed program among ad-supported cable sports networks in primetime, Fox Sports said. The performance was the third-best ever for pre-pay-per-view event fare on FS1, riding a wave of interest in Rousey.

The blonde Rousey has become a star outside of her mixed-martial-arts fame. As this blog notes, she's made movie appearances (Furious 7, the Entourage movie), has been on a recent cover of Sports Illustrated and made headlines at the ESPY Awards. After winning an ESPY as best fighter, in a field that included PPV boxing titan Floyd Mayweather, she jabbed at Mayweather, who has a history of domestic violence, saying she wondered "how Floyd feels being beat by a woman for once."  

Fox said that Saturday night’s UFC preliminary bouts (8-10 p.m. PM ET) averaged 1,322,000 viewers before peaking at 1,599,000 viewers (9:15-9:30 p.m. ET). That was 13% better on a household rating basis (1.04 vs. 0.92) and 10% better on an average audience basis (vs. 1,205,000) compared with the preliminary matches on FS1 before Rousey’s last main event PPV card (Feb. 28). That time she defeated challenger Cat Zingano at UFC 184 in 14 seconds.    

The Fox Sports 1 UFC 190 pre-fight show on Saturday (7-8 p.m. ET) drew 518,000 viewers, making it the third most-watched PPV prefight yet on the network, which converted from Speed in August 2013. 

After Rousey dispatched Correia in their bantamweight title fight, the FS1 UFC 190 post-fight show (1:42-2:42 a.m. ET) attracted 438,000 viewers, making it the second most-watched UFC 190 post-fight show yet on FS1.

On Friday, a repeat of UFC Main Event: UFC 168 Rousey Vs Tate Friday night (9-10 p.m. ET) had 388,000 viewers, a record for the program on FS1.  The 10 p.m. Friday night telecast of a special edition of UFC Tonight focusing on Rousey had 396,000 viewers, the most viewers yet for an airing of UFC Tonight, all according to FS1.

Image via UFC.com.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Tuesday suspended light heavyweight champion Jon Jones days after the fighter was charged with a felony involving a three-car accident.

Jones was suspended indefinitely and stripped of his championship title for violating the organization’s “Athlete Code Of Conduct Policy” after being arrested on a felony charge of leaving the scene of an car accident in Albuquerque, N.M. Sunday night.

Jones was slated to headline the organization’s May 23 UFC 187 pay-per-view event against Anthony Johnson. Daniel Cormier will replace Johnson on the card.

UFC said in a statement: “As a result of the charge and other violations of the Athlete Code of Conduct Policy, the organization believes it is best to allow Jones time to focus on his pending legal matters. UFC feels strongly that its athletes must uphold certain standards both in and out of the Octagon. While there is disappointment in the recent charges, the organization remains supportive of Jones as he works through the legal process.”

Dish Network has thrown the UFC out of its pay-per-view ring by choosing not to distribute the mix martial arts organization’s live PPV event Saturday night, the UFC said Wednesday.

Citing “contractual issues,” the UFC said that Dish Network will not offer its April 25 UFC 186: Johnson vs Horiguchi PPV event. According to the organization, Dish Network has chosen not to renew its distribution agreement with the UFC for distribution of its PPV events whereas all other US provides “have come to an agreement on renewal terms.”

The event will be carried by all cable, satellite and telco distributors, according to the organization.

“We have enjoyed a strong and productive relationship with DISHC over the years, and while we’re disappointed with their decision, we are confident that our fans will be able to enjoy this weekend’s cared through several other viewing options,” the UFC said in a statement. “We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached with DISH in the near future, but remain committed to ensuring that all fans have continued access to UFC events through multiple distribution options.”

Dish subscribers can watch the PPV event on XBOX 360, XBOX One, as well as through Roku players and at select restaurants and bars.