There’s no rest for the weary in the mixed martial arts (MMA) land of milk and honey.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is coming out of the gates like a bat out of hell in 2009, scheduling five events in less than 70 days to start the New Year.
That’s, of course, on the heels of a December that features three events, including the year-end blockbuster pay-per-view (PPV) event, UFC 92: "The Ultimate 2008," on December 27.
Here is the early jam-packed schedule for 2009:
- UFC 93: "Franklin vs. Henderson" from The O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17
- UFC 94: "St. Pierre vs. Penn 2" from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 31
- UFC Fight Night 17 [Location TBD] on February 7
- UFC 95 from the O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21
- UFC 96 from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 7
The only bad news, according to MMARated.com, is that the promotion is unable to hammer out a deal with its cable television provider, Spike TV, to air any of the European-based events for free so early in the year.
That means four of the first five UFC shows in 2009 (UFC 93, UFC 94, UFC 95 and UFC 96) will be broadcast on PPV, which could price out fans who may be unable to afford to watch all the shows because of the current state of the economy.
And that doesn’t even include the Affliction: "Day of Reckoning" PPV on January 24, which features a sick main event fight between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.
Talk about bitter sweet.
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