Dana White may have another big announcement up his sleeve.
The UFC president announced on Friday that he had resigned Tito Ortiz, booked Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin for UFC 103, and signed a new television deal with ESPN UK. However, his biggest announcement may be yet to come.
On a June 1 video blog (above), White said that he was working on a deal that would "literally change the UFC forever and mixed martial arts."
"[UFC CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta] and I had a killer, killer meeting in Los Angeles today," White said. "And I was hoping that I would be able to tell you about it today, but the way deals go, they take time. So I can't tell you today, but I can tell you, it was a great meeting, and I'm feeling very confident that we're going to get this deal done."
When FanHouse asked White about the announcement on Friday's conference call, he replied, "We're very close right now. We're very, very close.
"We're still working on that. These things take longer than ... I actually thought we could crank it out faster than we did, but it's going to happen, and we're still working on it."
So, what could it be?
The fact that the meeting took place in Los Angeles has led some to believe that it has to do with a network television deal.
"We're always talking to networks," White said. "And I'm confident, I'm very confident that we're going to get a network deal. And like I've always said, once we get the right offer, we will be on network television. We haven't had the right offer yet."
Let me know your best guesses in the comments below.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-01-2009 @ 4:17PM
eyetap said...
FOX has headquarters in LA. But wouldn't ABC/ESPN combo be the best?
Reply
7-31-2009 @ 5:52PM
Piker21 said...
Of course it's gotta be the infamous
The ufc will sign with the one the only
Discovery Channel
Reply
7-31-2009 @ 6:49PM
jmend25 said...
UFC On Oxygen obviously.
Reply
7-31-2009 @ 10:44PM
RedStar said...
Fedor!
Reply
7-31-2009 @ 11:40PM
eric said...
I think the ufc will sign a deal with HBO and have some fights on NBC
Reply
8-01-2009 @ 11:17AM
osdcr said...
Dana is really gay & it will be aired on the logo network (lol jk )
Reply
8-01-2009 @ 9:11PM
Retchinator said...
It'd be sick to get UFC on HBO. I just got HBO so it would be so healthy.
Reply
8-03-2009 @ 12:44PM
lynrdskin said...
dana and brock are really lovers and plan to adopt an ethiopian child and train it to fight in the octogan
Reply
8-03-2009 @ 1:52PM
nick said...
I believe it will be a UFC/ESPN deal. ESPN recently made a studio in LA, so I believe this deal, like Dana said, would change the future of MMA!
Reply