Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is giving mixed martial arts (MMA) fans a one-stop shop for all its combat sports programming.
Moving forward, all televised "Prelims" bouts will air on FOX Sports 1, much like they did for UFC Fight Night 26 earlier this month in Boston. The promotion's follow-up event, UFC Fight Night 27, aired its four-fight preliminary contests on FOX Sports 2 (results), leaving some viewers fumbling for their remotes in between action.
No more.
UFC President Dana White shares his conversation with FOX Sports Executive Eric Shanks (video):
"I called Eric the other day and said, 'We should just put everything on FOX Sports 1 like we did the first night.' He was like, 'You're right. We should. Let's do it.'"
So let it be spoken, so let it be done.
The decision may have been influenced by the "remarkable number" the network was able to garner with "Shogun vs. Sonnen" (see it here). The new arrangement is not expected to affect the promotion's reliance on Facebook for preliminary bouts that can't be shoehorned into existing timeslots.
In short, anything not on pay-per-view (PPV) will likely air on Facebook, followed by FOX Sports 1, with the exception of fight cards already lined up for FOX Sports 2, like the UFC Fight Nignt 30 event in Manchester, headlined by a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz.
Don't put those remotes away just yet.