The big news was that Lorenzo Fertitta, the No. 2 highest paid casino executive, will join Dana White as heads of Ultimate Fighting Championship. His primary focus is on international expansion, which is a move that, of course, worked well for professional boxing and pro wrestling.

He turned away from a salary of more than $100 million to begin a job that he said demanded a significant amount of involvement. Speculation has run rampant that White’s job is in danger, but he scoffed at the notion.

The aim is to increase the scope of MMA and doing so in population-rich foreign countries. This is especially true given how many males reside in countries across Asia and Europe in UFC’s target demographic of ages 18-34.

Again, this isn’t huge news as far as mind blowing stuff. But it is big for the industry that is already saturating the mainstream public. 

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Dana White, president of UFC, pushed back his “huge” announcement until today (Wednesday). He claimed late last week that his news was only to be broken to his staff, and that he never intended to bring the media into it.

Right, and I’m Lord of the Universe.

Dana White recently has been quoted as saying MMA will be the biggest sport in America within the next 10 years. It will even be bigger than the NFL, he said. That’s still to be seen.

The latest news is he announced on Tuesday that UFC will holf a live event July 19 on Spike TV. The featured bout is middleweight champion Anderson Silva moving up to light heavyweight to face James Irvin. The event also directly opposes a first-ever pay-per-view event from the Affliction company.

White conceded that the “big” announcement may not live up to the hype surrounding it. However, he said it still will be big news.

I’ll update later when word trickles out, which is expected at around 2 p.m. CDT.

Post from: Organized Chaos

Rampant speculation has floated around, including a partnership with rival organizations, the signing of Floyd “Money” Mayweather or a television contract. The fact he said it would change the industry for the next five years smells of a TV deal with a large network.

CBS recently aired an Elie XC event, which despite its logistical problems and lack of a good show, was a ratings winner. Imagine how well a UFC event could be pulled off with say FOX or NBC and the laready capable production crew that has staged numerous pay-per-views.

MMA is a sport that is taking off in popularity. Heck, there’s even training centers and professional fighters from the Panama City area (which I will be detailing in an upcoming series). There’s a lot of money to be had and UFC is going to cash in.

Of course, it could be something completely different. White has said it will be monumental. I’ll update when more is released.

Post from: Organized Chaos