UFC planning to hold close to 50 events in 2014 says Dana White

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be putting its brand to the test in 2014 as there are plans to promote close to 50 events. The first indicator that the promotion would be expanding its schedule was Lorenzo Fertitta's interview with Ariel Helwani.

Fertitta claimed the promotion would be holding 44 events, but later said that he misspoke. It seems like he was actually underselling how crammed next year's schedule really will be.

John Morgan of MMA Junkie caught up with UFC President Dana White and spoke about next year's international expansion. White said that not only will the promotion be holding a ridiculous 50 (!!!) events, but that some of them will be only available through an online streaming service.

"People don't understand ... the fights that we do in China are for China. The fights we do in Europe are going to be for Europe. But with this new digital network that we're launching, people who are hardcore fans and want to watch the fights will be able to.

"It's a completely new experience because what it's going to be based around is live fights. Obviously, you're going to have access to the library and lots of other programming that's going to be on the network, but there's going to be a ridiculous amount of live fights."

So what does this mean for the consumer? Well it really depends on the perspective. For some, more fights is a great thing. They want to watch as much mixed martial arts (MMA) as possible. For others, this will test the limits of their love for the sport. And for the rest, there will be complaints about over saturation.

White said that more information will be made available in the upcoming weeks, such as the cost for this service and the schedule of events.