UFC lands ‘industry-defining’ television deal under WME | IMG

So it turns out WME | IMG is good for something besides layoffs.

The new owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), who scooped up the world’s premiere mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion last summer for roughly $4 billion, inked a new pay-per-view (PPV) deal with OSN to televise in both North Africa and the Middle East.

“UFC on OSN will be industry-defining, as, for the first time, we will produce localised Arabic content ‘for the region, from the region’ to give UFC fans an unrivalled viewing experience,” Andy Warkman, the senior vice-president of sport and sports production at OSN told Sports Business (via FOX Sports).

Sounds like these guys can rest easy ... for now.

UFC was expected to continue to expand its global footprint under the new regime; however, existing offices around the world were closed and positions were consolidated in recent months, leading to speculation that UFC would scale back on the international front.

Or perhaps it’s just easier (and cheaper) to stay home and sell the TV rights instead.