Both events from 2011 were also held at the MGM Grand with UFC 130: Jackson vs. Hamill and UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber. The latter was particularly memorable based on Carlos Condit’s knockout of Dong Hyun Kim, Chris Leben laying Wanderlei Silva out in 27 seconds, and Tito Ortiz’s shocking upset of Ryan Bader.

This year Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 28 with July 4 coming on a Wednesday.

No fights have been linked to either card though Ortiz has come out to say he’s hopeful he’ll fight on one of the two cards as a means of retiring almost exactly fifteen years to the day he started out his storied MMA career.

“Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action is warranted by the commission at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed,” read the FTC’s report on the matter. The commission also clarified it could take further action if deemed in the “public interest” but simply hadn’t found a reason to look into things further.

Specifically the areas being reviewed were whether or not the UFC was a monopoly and whether or not their status had been achieved by less than savory means.

While the Culinary Workers Union does not necessarily have an issue with the UFC in particular, the organization has been at war with Fertitta-owned Station Casinos for years based on their policy to use non-unionized employees. The Culinary Workers Union is also believed to be behind the UFC’s struggles to get MMA licensed in New York as a means of getting at Zuffa and the Fertittas.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

As there is no regulatory board in Rio de Janeiro, the UFC was left in charge of addressing the situation and it appears they have, as Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner issued a statement on the matter, explaining no change would be made regarding the specific bout.

“Based on the referee’s verbal warnings and his determination that the blows were intentional and a disqualifying foul, this is not the type of decision that can be reviewed. Therefore, the decision stands,” wrote Ratner.

However, it seems the controversy has prompted the UFC to put a new policy in action regarding instant replay in hopes of not only making sure fights are handled properly but also as a way to show athletic commissions the positives involved.

“Recently, Zuffa has decided to implement the use of instant replay at all international events that are self-regulated, and to encourage all regulators to consider the feasibility and effectiveness of instant replay in the sport of MMA,” he continued. “While instant replay would not have reversed the call in the Silva-Prater bout, we believe that it could be valuable to referees and the sport in the future.”

Silva was still paid his win bonus for the performance even though he will still receive a loss on his record.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The news of this test comes as positive results have come back claiming fighters such as 145-pound champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and former light heavyweight champ Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal have tested positive. Both compete for Strikeforce, which is owned by Zuffa.

“We’re committed to the health and safety of our athletes and we take it very seriously,” Zuffa chief executive Lorenzo Fertitta said in an official statement on the matter. “We already work closely with athletic commissions to protect our athletes and now we’re taking it one step further. We’re going to test any potential UFC or Strikeforce fighter before finalizing their contract. This shows that we don’t want performance enhancing drugs in our sport.”

The policy, which has been retroactively dated to the beginning of the new year, means all future fighters must undergo testing procedures before they are official. UFC President Dana White added, “Our new testing policy for performance enhancing drugs only further shows how important it is to us to have our athletes competing on a level playing field.”

Lawal, a former wrestler in college, has claimed the test is false and that he has not taken anything illegal. Santos also said much the same, adding that her positive test was for a supplement given to her by her a respected trainer.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

On that note, the UFC has released a video addressing ESPN’s claims with input from former champions Chuck Liddell, Matt Serra, and Forrest Griffin who defended their employers’. Liddell retired in 2010 after a storied career in the infamous eight-sided cage while Griffin and Serra are still on the organization’s roster.

“These guys that are just starting off in the UFC and they’re starting off with whatever number they’re starting off with, they have a good night and the next thing you know they’re getting a sick pay day,” said Serra. “And that opportunity is for a guy that’s been with them, like myself, for ten years or a guy that’s green and it’s his first time in there.”

As far as Griffin’s take, the original Ultimate Fighter winner explained, “The UFC has guys that technically they lose money on; that they’re paying $10-$15,000 to fight that nobody’s really watching. Nobody bought the PPV to see that guy, maybe like 300 people in his hometown if he’s lucky. But they’re paying that guy to get better, to keep fighting, because maybe he’ll catch on and be that next thing.”

“They’re putting an investment in all their guys, all of us. The UFC wants you to succeed,” he continued. “The more any fighter succeeds, they succeed. I mean even guys that aren’t making a fortune are making enough to where they don’t have another job and they can concentrate on getting better as a fighter so they can put themselves in a position to make good money.”

Check out the fighters’ version of things below in addition to more behind-the-scenes footage from Lorenzo Fertitta’s interview with ESPN:

The first shot was fired when ESPN decided to do a documentary-style piece for investigative news-show Outside The Lines on the monopoly that many believe the UFC is creating in the MMA world. Included was a focus on fighter pay ultimately sending UFC President Dana White and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta over the edge.

White then claimed he would release the UFC’s own video of the interview process with ESPN and now a clipof Fertitta talking about payments ESPN made to boxers for its Friday Night Fights series has been made public.

“There was a guy who walked away with $275 for a four-round fight (on ESPN),” explained Fertitta to the ESPN reporter interviewing him. “Our fights that we put on cable, we paid 10 times what the fighters (were) paid by ESPN.”

It remains to be seen what kind of coverage ESPN will give the UFC in the future, or if the fight promotion even has any care to be covered by the sports programming giant.

Check out the video of Fertitta below:

White recently discussed the cause’s current status where he was not only enthusiastic about their chances but already has a fighter in mind for headlining action.

“Real close,” White replied when asked how far away MMA in NY was in a conversation with MMA Fight Corner. “It’s going to happen and I guarantee it’s going to happen this year.”

Based on the uncertain nature of exactly the “when” would actually occur it’s clearly impossible to have a match-up already made for the UFC’s eventual debut in the Big Apple. However, White knows who he’d prefer to book for the card’s main event.

“It would be nice to go in there with, probably, Jon Jones,” the hard-working head honcho revealed.

Jones, the transcendent UFC light heavyweight champ, hails from Rochester, New York.

Currently the hang up preventing MMA’s sanctioning in New York relates to a handful of State politicians who feel the sport is too brutal as well as what is believed to be a butting of heads between the culinary union and Zuffa based on an issue with the lack of union workers at Fertitta-owned Station Casinos.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Now White, along with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza, are ready to talk in a bit more detail about what’s to come on the Strikeforce front.

The trio will shed some light on the subject at 3:00 PM EST during a conference call with media and, as always, Five Ounces of Pain will be on hand to relay relevant information and interesting soundbytes back to readers.

Check out the highlights below:

Dana White

*”I’m fired up about this deal and the guys in Strikeforce are fired up about it as well. They’re very happy about this new deal.” Alludes to Strikeforce fighters fighting UFC fighters.

*Strikeforce will do away with the heavyweight division after the GP, but doesn’t say all the fighters will be moved to the UFC.

*”The women’s division is very popular. We’re going to keep it. We’re keeping one division…and Cyborg.”

*Says that Gilbert Melendez is pumped to stay in Strikeforce and will continue to defend his title in Strikeforce.

*Doesn’t commit to Strikeforce running PPV.

*Will be at Strikeforce events but Coker will run the day to day operations.

*Has a good relationship with the new Showtime regime. “If I wasn’t happy with the deal, I wouldn’t have involved myself in it.”

*Says that both companies will be looking for the best fighters in the world.

*Will look to add depth to all the divisions.

*Is excited to make some tweaks and build up Strikeforce and Showtime.

*Has no clue what the future holds as far as UFC/Strikeforce cross promoting fights.

*”My schedule next year is ridiculous.”

*Says this is a partnership with Showtime. Will look to make some changes for the better.

*”Strikeforce guys are going to be legit champions and contenders.”

*When asked about Strikeforce Fight Night bonuses, Dana says that he doesn’t know yet but is leaning towards yes.

*Hasn’t made Fabricio Werdum’s UFC return official.

*Showtime wanted the HW GP winner fight one more time on their network and that’s why it’s happening.

*Says Strikeforce won’t be a feeder league. “Watch and see what we do over the next year.”

Scott Coker

*Says the winner of the Heavyweight Grand Prix will not be the new heavyweight champion and that they will focus on the other weight classes once the tournament wraps up. “The winner of the HW GP will fight another top heavyweight and then we’ll focus on the other weight classes.”

*There will continue to be two women’s divisions.

*Will eventually crown new champions in each division.

*Haven’t determined when the 8 shows will run. Has to work everything out with Showtime’s programming.

*Looking to run Daniel Cormier vs. Josh Barnett at the end of the first quarter 2012.

*Has not determine who or when Miesha Tate will fight next. Hopes to do a fight with Ronda Rousey, who is looking to fight at both 135 and 145.

Stephen Espinoza

*Announces that Strikeforce will run 8 events next year starting January 7 with an event headlined by Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine.

*All preliminary fights will be aired on ShowtimeExtreme. Due to this, there will be no more Strikeforce Challengers events.

*Would consider running Boxing and MMA events on the same night, but only if it works out. Worries about overload.

*They could extend their deal with M-1 Global but isn’t concerned about that, only focussed on Strikeforce.

*Says Strikeforce is not a secondary brand.

*”Gina (Carano) at heart is a fighter. It would not surprise me at all to see her back in MMA.”

FUEL TV will also have weigh-ins for UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes, along with pre/post-fight interviews, preliminary cardsm and UFC Tonight, an official news and information show of the UFC.

“We’re beyond excited for the monster launch of the UFC on FUEL TV and can’t wait for the ball to drop on New Year’s so we can finally unveil all this incredible programming,” FUEL TV’s George Greenberg said.

UFC president Dana White, who was one of the chief architects behind the UFC and FOX Network coming together earlier this year, said, “We’re excited that FUEL TV will become the ultimate destination for UFC programming in 2012. If you’re a fan of the UFC, you’ve got to have FUEL TV.”

A live event is already planned for February 15 on FUEL TV with bouts including Diego Sanchez vs. Jake Ellenberger and Stefan Struve vs. Dave Herman.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Now, word of a May show in Brazil has been all-but confirmed by UFC president Dana White, who talked about the event at the UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida post-event press conference Saturday night.

White didn’t have much to say in regards to where the card might take place, but said the UFC is looking at holding the fights in a stadium arena, much like the Rogers Centre in Canada did in April of this year.

“How many events are we going to do in Brazil next year? Right now, what I know, we’ve got two coming up,” White said. “We’re gonna do Rio and probably another one in May.”

UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva is currently on the sidelines with a shoulder injury, but has mentioned a possible return in late spring or early summer – putting him on schedule for the May Brazilian show. Heavyweight king Junior dos Santos has also mentioned an interest in fighting in front of his countrymen this summer. White also said he is flying to Brazil on Monday to begin casting on a version of The Ultimate Fighter in Brazil.

UFC 142 will feature featherweight phenom Jose Aldo defending his divisional title against undefeated grappler Chad Mendes with other bouts including Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares and Anthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

According to official statements from UFC President Dana White and Zuffa’s area-head Mark Fischer, the Octagon will show up in the PRIDE/DREAM stomping ground of Saitama Super Arena on February 26 with the intent to fill the historic arena with at least 20,000 fans.

“(Quinton) ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, (Antonio Rodrigo) “Minotauro” Nogueira all made names for themselves fighting in the PRIDE organization and dozens more fought in front of the passionate Japanese fans at some point in their careers,” White said in a prepared message for media. “Japan has also produced world class fighters such as (Yoshihiro) Akiyama, (Takanori) Gomi, and Yushin Okami. They have all headlined major UFC events all over the world. Now, this February, the wait is finally over – we’re coming back to Japan.”

Akiyama and Nogueira have already expressed interest in a spot on the card with other popular Asian fighters on the UFC’s roster like Dong Hyun Kim, Hatsu Hioki, and Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto also seemingly locks for the show if health allows.

UFC 29 marked the last time the UFC visited Japan. To give some perspective on the event and how much things have changed, Chuck Liddell fought Jeff Monson and Dennis Hallman beat the pants off of Matt Hughes.

The announced show will be the second time in six months the organization will have returned to the birthplace of many of MMA’s disciplines after a long break between stops with the first involving last month’s epic event in Rio de Janeiro.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Royce Gracie, who opened the world’s eyes by winning three of the UFC’s first four tournaments, was recently interviewed by MMAFighting where he revealed his loss for former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes still haunts him.

“That’s the only one. I want to be able to show up to the fight. (Before), I didn’t show up,” said Gracie of a potential rematch.

While their bout at UFC 60 was far from competitive, Gracie explained he wasn’t fully on his game when they originally fought in 2006 though didn’t provide any great detail on why that was the case. However, if he is unable to procure a second shot at Hughes it won’t prevent the submission specialist from moving on with his life.

“If it happens, good. If it doesn’t happen, good.”

The 44-year old Gracie hasn’t fought in more than four years when he outpointed old rival Kazushi Sakuraba to score a controversial decision at “K-1 HERO’s Dynamite!! USA”. If he never steps into the cage again he will retire with a 14-2-3 record including twelve wins by way of tap-out.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Las Vegas Sun first reported the details.

The one hour time-slot is due in large part to the fact that one of boxing’s top PPV draws, Manny Pacquiao, will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez on that same night. A big fan of the boxing and Pacquiao, Dana White doesn’t want to run head-to-head against the boxing superstar.

Speaking to the Las Vegas Sun, UFC executive Lorenzo Fertitta said, ““We’ll be out of there before Pacquiao even walks to the ring. This is going to be a perfect night for any fight fan. Get together with your friends, watch two big fights in the UFC and then change the channel to ride into the Pacquiao pay-per-view.”

Due to the short time slot, fans can expect the action to be nonstop. “It’s going to literally be back-to-back action,” said Fertitta. “We aren’t going to mess around with a lot of pre-fight commentary, post-fight commentary. We are going to roll right in, set up the fights and let the action go.”

The event is scheduled to go live on FOX at 9PM EST. While no venue has been officially announced, it is rumored that Anaheim, California will play host to the historic event. Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza was the first fight announced for the event.

50% OFF ALL UFC MERCHANDISE!

Alright, so maybe the announcement is a little bigger than that.

UFC IS NOW ON FOX!

Obviously this is a big deal, but before we start watching American Idol every week just to catch a UFC promo, lets step back for a moment and take a look at the pros and cons of the deal.

PRO: Come on, UFC is finally on network television. This is a huge deal. This is what we’ve all wanted for years. We were all excited when EliteXC and Strikeforce got on CBS, but they weren’t UFC. Now the top MMA organization in the world is on one of the five channels that my grandma has access to. Network TV is what every sports organization strives for, and now UFC has reached that goal.

PRO: Changing the format of The Ultimate Fighter. It’s no secret that TUF has pretty much ran its course. They tried to change up the format with the whole “fighting to get into the house thing” but to me, that made it worse because the first couple of episodes were nothing but fights involving guys no one had ever heard of, with some of them being highlights only.

With this new “live” format, it actually puts us, the viewers, into the show. Not only because we get to vote on what fights take place, but because we get to see how things are going in the week prior to the fight. Hopefully it leads to more training and profiling of fighters and less in-house shenanigans that makes the fighters look bad. Plus, the fights will be live, and watching a fight live just feels better than watching it on tape, even if you don’t know the result.

CON: Friday night is a terrible timeslot. Can you name a single show that has survived on Friday? Usually when a show gets moved to the first day of the weekend, it’s because the show is underperforming in the ratings so the network sends it to Rebecca Black’s favorite day so they can cancel it. There is also Friday sports competition for UFC. WWE Smackdown on SyFy and ESPN Friday Night Fights are established at the end of the workweek. Watching the established show, checking out the new show, which combat sport will you chooooooooose?

CON: Over-saturation. MMA over-saturation is already becoming a bit of a trend with the number of shows companies are running on a weekly basis. Now that UFC is going to be on Fox, FX, and FuelTV, we’re looking at more live UFC programming than ever along with the usual PPVs. People are already complaining about the lack of “big time” main events. Get ready to see less “big time” main events with more events.

PRO: Fox has a lot of sports, reality, and original programming that they can use to help market the UFC. They have NFL games every Sunday, MLB every Saturday, NASCAR, NCAA Football and the UEFA Champions League. On the reality front, they have American Idol, X Factor, So You Think You Can Dance, and Hell’s Kitchen. I don’t watch any of those shows, but I hear they’re popular. Then there are shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, House, and Glee, all of which I watch, all of which are very popular. And yeah, I watch Glee, like that should shock you. I’m actually praying for a UFC/Glee mash-up episode titled “UF-GLEE!”

That’s not even counting FX, which has awesome shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Louie, Sons of Anarchy, and Justified. And FuelTV has, well, something involving cars and that show that Brittney Palmer co-hosted the other week. Point is, there is a lot of good programming on Fox and FX and if they’re willing to get behind the UFC and really push the product like I think they are, it should benefit all parties.

PRO: There’s nothing really wrong with the UFC production as is but when they do decide to make changes like they’ve done in recent years, it’s almost always been a positive. Now they’re going to get rid of the gladiator intro and maybe replace it with the Baba O’Riley video that maybe some of you haven’t seen unless you’ve been to a live UFC event. The UFC production staff is very underrated and if they’re allowed to do more and really re-invent the wheel, we could see big things. Sadly, this means the loss of Russell Crowe at the start of every UFC event, but I’m sure the beautiful minds of the UFC production people will make up for it.

CON: Seven years might be too long of a deal. I look at the UFC as a free agent in sports. When you’re a free agent in any sport, you want to cash in on as many big contracts as you can. For most players, they get two or three big money contracts during their playing career. This is UFC’s first major contract and seven years keeps them maybe two years longer then I would have signed for. I feel like five years is always the perfect amount of years to sign for, whether you’re a player or a general manager.

CON: Did you see Joe Rogan during the press conference? He was wearing a suit. JOE ROGAN! IN A SUIT! If Rogan is going to be wearing suits for Fox broadcasts, I’m not sure I can handle it. It just looks so wrong. Like Selena Gomez with Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga in normal clothing.

PRO: Pre and post fight shows for events. For the most part, I enjoy the pre and post fight UFC on Versus events because they make the shows feel like actual sporting events. Every major sport has some sort of studio show before and after the games. I just hope they make the shows for UFC actual studio shows, and not live shows at the arena where we can see the preliminary fights going on in the background. To me, that was the biggest flaw with the Versus pre-show. When I know and see live fights going on, I don’t want to hear about people talking about others things. I want to watch the fight. If UFC does the show from a studio, where the casual audience won’t see any fighting going on, they’re more likely to pay attention to the actual show.

The obvious host for the studio show is Jay Glazer, who is a huge MMA fan and already under contract with Fox. As for the panel, I think Randy Couture, who is one of the most insightful and well-respected MMA fighters in history and Ariel Helwani, who will somehow get out of his NBC Sports/AOL contract in order to sign with Fox, are the best choices. Then have Rachelle Leah, who already works on MMAthletics with Glazer for FoxSports, as a “octagon-side reporter.”

CON: November 12 seems like a really short turnaround. UFC has already announced the first UFC on FOX card to be on November 12, yet they have made no fights official. Right now they have less than three months to get a card together and a lot of their big time fighters have fights scheduled or won’t be ready in time. UFC has to make a splash with the first card in November, especially considering that it’s going up against Manny Pacquiao on PPV. As good as the latest UFC on Versus event was in terms of excitement, that’s not a card that appealed to the masses. My hope is that the somehow get Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson as the main event for the show, but I wouldn’t be banking on that fight headlining. However, I’d say Machida vs. Henderson has a better shot at happening on FOX in November than Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 3.

It’s really too early to know whether or not this deal will pan out how both parties want and hope it will. Again, to use my free agent analogy, when a team signs a high priced free agent, they’re obviously hoping for the best. They sign that free agent based on what he did in past seasons and what they believe he’s capable of doing in seasons to come. Some free agents, like the New Orleans Saints signing Drew Brees, turn out to be great. Others, like the Washington Redskins signing Albert Haynesworth, turn out to be terrible.

As MMA fans, we hope that Dana White doesn’t fail the conditioning test and instead leads us to the Super Bowl.

*PHOTO CREDIT – FRANCIS SPECKER*

Fox Broadcasting Company held a press conference today in Los Angeles in cooridnation with the UFC with FOX Sports Media Group Chairman and CEO David Hill, Co-Presidents and COO’s Randy Freer and Eric Shanks, and FX President John Landgraf in attendance along with UFC President Dana White and UFC executive and part owner Lorenzo Fertitta, plus UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.

Earlier this week, Sports Business Daily reported that Fox and UFC struck a deal that would bring UFC to network television for the first time in company history. Today’s press conference could be the official announcement of the deal, complete with details.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was tuned in and has the following nuggets of information to report back with:

- The UFC will broadcast four events a year on FOX, six on FX, and 24 live TUF fights coinciding with episodes
- TUF will be shown *live* on FX
- Dana White: “This is it for me. This is what I always wanted.”
- The first UFC event on FOX will take place on November 12
- In regards to TUF, each episode will be filmed over the preceding week and edited into an episode that shows on Friday night before the bout is shown live
- Also new with TUF, viewers will have an opportunity to vote on creating the match-ups
- White: “I don’t know if I ever thought it would but it did and that’s all that matters.” (on the UFC signing with FOX)
- November 12 event on FOX will take place in Anaheim
- The agreement between the UFC and FOX is seven years long
- Live prelims and “Unleashed” episodes will be shown on Fuel
- UFC action will be broadcasted on Fox Desportes too
- FOX running pre/post-shows while the UFC will still handle event production
- “Fight Night” events will be on FX, “big fights will be on big FOX”
- Lorenzo Fertitta says it wasn’t just FOX interested: “We basically had every major broadcaster vying for these rights.”
- White says there will be lots of changes coming including to PPVs: “We want to take everything to the next level.”
- Fertitta says FOX was the network they’d hoped to eventually sign with a decade ago when they first got started with the UFC: “It was pretty simple from our standpoint to see what the right home for us was.”
- Network broadcasts may include title-fights
- The November 12 date was a coincidence, not directed at counter-programming Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming fight on the same date
- Opening video will change meaning no more gladiator
- There will be cross-promotion between the UFC and FOX’s creative programming

UFC sent out a press release to celebrate the partnership renewal.

Along with Harley Davidson remaining a main sponsor of the UFC, they two announced a “Hometown Throwdown” sweepstake, which will allow fans to vote where a 2012 UFC event. Voting begins next month and fans can vote online at UFC.com/HometownThrowdown. Zuffa has run this promotion before in 2010 with WEC and AMP Energy. Glendale, Arizona won the fan vote and hosted the final WEC event in company history.

“We love keeping the fans involved and so does Harley-Davidson, so we’re also excited to partner with them for the Hometown Throwdown. This is a great promotion. Fans are always asking for us to bring a UFC event to their city and now they’re in control. If they want the UFC in their city, they just have to rock the vote,” said UFC President Dana White.

This past Sunday, UFC Live 5 took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the hometown of Harley Davidson. In the main event, Chris Lytle not only picked up a victory over Dan Hardy, a submission of the night bonus and fight of the night bonus, he also rode out of Milwaukee on a brand new 2012 Harley-Davidson HD BLACKLINE.

“We were excited to have the UFC visit Harley-Davidson’s hometown of Milwaukee this weekend for the first time ever,” said Harley-Davidson Chief Marketing Officer Mark-Hans Richer. “To celebrate UFC’s arrival in our hometown, we wanted to present the winner of the main event with a gift that only Harley-Davidson could pull off.”

UFC and Harley Davidson continue to prep the finer points of the “Hometown Throwdown” and more details will be announced in the coming weeks.

The UFC sent out a press release to celebrate the deal.

The deal gives FOX Sports the rights to air UFC content in 18 countries in Latin America, reaching more than 29 million homes. UFC programming will be available on FOX Sports, FOX Sports+, and FOX Sports HD, with all live events airing on FOX Sports and FOX Sports HD.

“We felt the time was right to expand in Latin America,” said UFC President Dana White. “We launched with Globosat in Brazil in 2008 and saw the popularity for the sport to explode. We knew we had millions of fans in Latin America and wanted to give them access to content and programming developed exclusively for them.”

FOX Sports VP of global marketing and business development, Patrick Ilabaca, stated, “We are excited to be able to bring our viewers a front row seat to the fastest growing sport in world. Through our agreement with UFC, mixed martial arts fans throughout Latin America will for the first time be able to watch live UFC events exclusively on FOX Sports, which were traditionally only available on Pay-Per-View.”

Along with the new programming deal, FOX Sports Latin America has also launched an official UFC page on their website.

The world’s foremost MMA promotion now broadcasts in over 132 countries and territories, reaching 597 million homes worldwide, in 21 different languages.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The 24-year old’s signing was revealed through the Facebook page of his manager, Mike Malast, who wrote the contract is expected to run for the next four years assuming things continue as planned.

Hettes holds an overall record of 7-0 including six submissions in the opening round of action. His last fight took place this past November where he choked out the larger George Sheppard a little more than midway through the second stanza of action. His addition to the UFC roster should no doubt provide a good deal of relief to Hettes who had been given an opportunity to fight on the Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Finale this past December but watched it slip away based on a previous commitment to a local event.

Dana White revealed the organization’s decision earlier today during a press conference with media where it was also made clear the type of card – PPV, Fight Night, TUF Finale, etc. – won’t make a difference in regards to the move towards twenty-five minute main events.

In another landscape-altering announcement, the UFC President shed light on the company’s intention to create a flyweight division (125 pounds) with the expectation it will be in place by year’s end while stating a number of fighters have already been eyed for bringing aboard. It’s also likely current bantamweights on the roster, such as 135-pound standout Demetrious Johnson, will look to drop down as was the case when WEC‘s lighter divisions were folded into the UFC.

Read below for highlights from the call:

- Fertitta said the groundwork was laid three years ago after sitting down with White to develop a structure to cover their athletes in a more comprehensive manner
- Will cover fighters worldwide meaning Mixed Martial Artists living in Asia, South America, Canada, Asia, Australia, etc. will receive the benefits
- The UFC will pay 100% of the premium covering up to $50,000 per fight per year
- Starts June 1, 2011
- White confirmed Edgar/Maynard are out of UFC 130 and cited back/rib injuries for Edgar, a knee for Maynard
- Fertitta explained part of the difficulty in finally emerging with a proper plan was based on the line of work they’re in
- Fertitta said the acquisition of Strikeforce had nothing to do with the decision with White adding it would’ve been impossible to develop the coverage in the amount of time between then and now
- Fertitta made it clear that the insurance will cover “any kind of accident”
- The policy supplements existing insurance meaning fighters are covered separately when in the ring during a bout
- Fertitta said he doesn’t feel their decision will influence the legalization of MMA in New York
- The coverage lasts as long as an athlete is under contract meaning before, between, and after fights
- Explained no UFC athletes are currently under contract featuring stipulations preventing them from doing other physical activities as is sometimes the case in other professional sports
- White said Edgar/Maynard are out 6-8 weeks and may be re-matched in August or September depending on how recovery goes
- A UFC legal representative explained life insurance was also part of the deal meaning money would be available for families in the event of a catastrophic/fatal injury
- White ended the call by explaining how big this deal was for the lower-tier guys who “aren’t Georges St. Pierre” for example