UFC extends agreement with BT Sport to broadcast EMEA & Asia fight nights

BT Sport agrees deal to show UFC London live plus more fight night shows

The first event this will include will be UFC Fight Night London: Gustafsson vs Manuwa on the 8th March at O2 Arena, London.

The UFC has announced an agreement with BT Sport to broadcast its six EMEA Fight Nights live, in addition to delayed broadcasts of the Asia Fight Nights. The agreement is an extension to the current contract, which already sees the channel broadcast the UFC’s global events, and will now offer more live UFC content on TV.

The deal will begin with UFC Fight Night London: Gustafsson vs Manuwa on 8th March live from London’s O2 Arena. The EMEA and ASIA Fight Nights are a collection of events throughout some the major cities in Europe and Asia as the UFC begins to significantly increase its presence in the regions through locally driven prime time content. The new access will give subscribers live prime time viewing access, including every bout on the fight card and behind the scenes footage, along with our weekly Beyond The Octagon programming.

Garry Cook, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of UFC EMEA, said:

“We are delighted to be working with BT Sport on our exciting new EMEA and Asia Fight Nights. They have been a fantastic partner of the UFC here in the UK and this will only strengthen our relationship.

“British fans want to see more and more of the UFC during prime time TV and this extended agreement will allow them to watch every single fight, and much more, throughout the EMEA and Asia Fight Nights.”

Simon Green, Head of BT Sport said:

“UFC is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and we’re very happy to be adding these new FIGHT NIGHTS to our UFC content.  We know that UFC fans in the UK will be delighted to hear this news.”

UFC Fight Night London: Gustafsson vs Manuwa starts at 5.30 p.m. GMT at the O2 Arena. For further details on the event and the full fight card, please visit http://uk.ufc.com/event/ufc-london#/fight.
For more information about UFC, its events and programming, please visit http://uk.ufc.com.

Kingdom MMA reaction:

This is of course huge news for the UK fans who have been asking questions regarding TV coverage of the UFC London event for a long time now. I always thought that a deal would be agreed for this event, as it was with the Singapore event to show it on BT Sport. However to have agreed a deal for all EMEA events to be shown live is more than I expected as I expected the non UK events to be a Fight Pass only event.

The fact the Asia cards will be shown on tape delay isn't a problem either, lets face it. No TV provider would allow UFC to be shown live at 11am anyway and I quite enjoyed watching the Singapore card in the evening. If you want to watch it live then the option to watch on Fight Pass will still be available anyway.

From the wording of the press release it may even include showing the prelims as well for all of these events as it says "this extended agreement will allow them to watch every single fight". If this is the case then it is brilliant news and a massive step to help promote the up and coming British talent on the UFC London card such as Brad Scott and Luke Barnatt who's fights never disappoint and more fans will now have the opportunity to see these warriors fight.

UFC officially announce new UK TV deal

BT Sport Sign 3 Year UFC TV Deal in the UK

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

The UFC has today put pen to paper on a three year TV deal with BT Sport that goes into effect 1st August, officials today announced.

BT Sport is a soon to launch lineup of premium pay channels in the U.K. and Ireland. Costs for the channels haven't yet been announced. Details are believed to be announced later this week in regard to costs and BT Sport will launch on Thursday.

Garry Cook has been instrumental in getting this TV deal sorted and whilst many will be disappointed he hasn't found a home for the sport on Sky Sports it's at least a step up from what ESPN were doing with the UFC. There were many occasions they didn't even show live events even as recent as a month ago when UFC on Fuel TV 9 in Sweden was shown on a tape delay. Several other events were on tape delay and there were major issues with recording live events with fights being cut off. The other major problem people had was trying to record an episode of The Ultimate Fighter, which normally meant recording the episode after the start was so delayed you only got about 3/4 of the programme during the scheduled time.

ESPN did nothing to grow the sport and that's where BT will hope to improve. They are building quite a package to compete with Sky and can offer a whole host of sports to now try and compete. They are dedicated to bringing UFC programming and this is great news to hardcore fans. Whether this be magazine type shows with weekly round ups or insider shows it is all a bonus from what we are used to.

The Ultimate Fighter will also find a new home on BT Sport and this could be a great tool if advertised correctly to bring new fans into the sport. If shown at reasonable time with adverts being show during live Premier League football you are opening up to a whole wave of potentially new fans.

As always the cost could be the deal breaker as most fans seemed happy enough to pay the £10 a month ESPN were charging. If the prices are of a similar nature I think most MMA fans would be happy with this. It will be interesting to hear the views of hardcore and casual viewers alike on this news today.

If you have any opinions on this matter please comment below or tweet Kingdom MMA @KingdomMMA