UFC lands three-year television broadcast deal with BT Sport in UK

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) continues its expansion across the pond, this time signing a three-year deal with upstart sports television provider BT Sport, which will include live, taped and originally-produced programming, according to a report from Mirror.co.uk.

Garry Cook, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of UFC Europe, elaborates:

"UFC athletes are the most committed and dedicated in the world of sport and this new relationship will help people gain a more in depth understanding of the sport and our brand. This agreement is a landmark step in UFC's development in the UK as it will increase our exposure to a much wider and more mainstream sporting audience. It means that the UK joins USA, Canada, Australia and Brazil as one of our largest TV broadcast markets. BT Sport certainly shares our vision for the premium quality broadcast of elite performance sport for our UK audience and we're very excited about the strategic partnership we've entered into. We look forward to working alongside them and showing a wider fan base how exciting and engaging the UFC is."

That's good news for folks in Ireland, as well.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) programming has been around the UK for some time, but previous deals under ESPN and Setanta Sport were restricted to live events. Now, folks overseas can get more UFC content which includes pre and post-fight coverage. After all, why should stateside viewers be the only ones stuck with Michael Bisping's silliness?

Well, how about it UK fight fans, is this the news you've been waiting to hear?