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[windmortal]

UFC president Dana White "guarantees" UFC will have network TV deal within a year
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Sep 16, 2009 at 8:25 am ET
The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be on network television within a year.

That's the word from UFC president Dana White, who spoke to our friends at The DAM Morning Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday about the likelihood.

According to White, who suggested fans are already forced to purchase too many pay-per-view events annually, the UFC will feature four network-TV events per year.

"I guarantee you by Sept. 15 of next year, we will be on network television," he said. "I'll put on probably one (event) a quarter – one that should have been on pay-per-view except we'll put it on network TV.

UFC officials, especially White, have long teased the possibility of the UFC appearing on network television. However, he's always cautioned that such a deal hinges on the organization's ability to find the "right deal." That's why the (now-defunct) EliteXC organization beat the UFC to the network airwaves and debuted on CBS in 2007.

In recent months, though, White has hinted such a deal could be close to fruition. His comments on The DAM Show are the most direct yet.

"I'm putting on so many pay-per-views," he said. "I'm putting on like 13 pay-per-views per year. That's more than one a month. I think you have to give back to the fans, and you have to give back free fights.

"So we do a ton of free fights on Spike TV between [UFC] Fight Nights and some of the big, just out-of-the-blue fights we put on Spike. And now we get a network deal, and we're doing four big fights a year that should have been on pay-per-view, but you get for free? That's how I grew up. That's how I became a big boxing fan. My uncles used to watch all the fights on ABC's 'Wide World of Sports,' and I used to watch it with them, and I became a huge boxing fan. That's my model. That's what I'm going to build now here today."

Check out the embedded clip for the full conversation, which includes White's harsh criticism of Quinton Jackson for pulling out of a planned UFC 107 main event with Rashad Evans to appear in the new "The A-Team" movie.

[Vegas]

This is GREAT news! Getting the UFC on network TV is just another step in legitimizing the sport and bringing it into the mainstream. Plus, it helps out us diehards by giving us 4 PPV's a year for free on network TV. Dana has teased us about a network deal before, I really hope it happens this time!