Jesse Holland of MMAMania.com is reporting that ESPN’s internet-only ‘MMA Live’ program will be making the switch to television in the very near future and will find a home with ESPN2.
MMAmania.com has learned that host Jon Anik, along with analysts Franklin McNeil and Kenny Florian, will soon bring their mixed martial arts news, highlights and analysis to the world’s biggest sports network on ESPN2.
Payout Perspective:
This is definitely good news. Not only does MMA Live on ESPN2 increase the coverage that MMA is going to receive amongst the core sports demographics, but it’s also a sign of ESPN’s deepening commitment or investment into the sport.
By no means is this a sure sign of things to come, but it’s a positive indicator nonetheless.
Note: The UFC will have both Georges St-Pierre and Dan Hardy on ESPN’s SportsCenter this morning at 10:15am EST to promote their fight. Interestingly, Brock Lesnar will also take to the airwaves on Friday to discuss his future plans.
Edit, Note 2: MMAWeekly is now reporting that MMA Live will also start running on TSN in the coming weeks.
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I can’t help but notice some of the same things that led to the tremendous interest and awareness in UFC 100 starting to align again for this summer. The UFC has got a fantastic spring and summer line-up planned, the new video game will be released in May, and they’re benefited from increase press coverage recently (especially on the ESPN front).
We’ll know more after UFC 111, but it’s starting to unfold in a familiar pattern.
Good news for fans in the US. Here in the UK,ESPN provides UFC PPV’s, Fight Nights ect…we’ve been getting MMA Live for a good few months now; it’s a great addition to the schedule.
This is good news. As long as they stay neutral and not to pro UFC, it will be a good sign for MMA.
i hope this doesn’t up a zuffa show but a mma show
I hope it becomes 90% zuffa and 10% everyone else. If this sport is going to grow then the fanbase needs to put its resources and efforts into 1 promotion. New fans will not jump aboard if the sport is broken into many pieces. Its to hard to understand. People dont know who is who. When people in the US watch racing they go to NASCAR. For football they go to the NFL, then NBA, NHL, WNBA, etc. The only sport broken up is boxing which as a sport very few care about. They only have like 5 fighters people watch. If those guys are not fighting then noone is watching boxing. But if Lebron James isnt playing there are still millions watching basketball.
Not athlete is bigger than the sport. But whne your sport is broken up athletes do become bigger than the sport and the sport is dependant on them. If Kobe or Lebron retired today it wouldnt have much effect on the NBA. If Peyton Manning retired it wouldnt have much effect. But if Maywether and Macman retired today and maybe 2 others. Boxin would be completely dead. The people who watch then were passed to them by Dela Hoya’s. These guys need to pass the torch to someone else because noone else is known. Essentially if they retired today the 1 million + PPV buyers who make up the biggest cards would disappear because they dont knwo and dont care about anyone left and they are not fans of the sport, just a fighter.
MMA’s future would be more secure if it had one major power like the UFC.
Second of all why cover the other promotions as equal to the UFC or even close. These companies are the one who make the sport look bad. Do you really want ESPN spending their time cover the bad things in MMA and turn fans against MMA? Prides Yakuza scandal, Elite XC Kimbo gate, The Biker Riot at Ultimate Athlete event, IFL stealing stock holders money, IFL, WFA, Affliction, Bodog going out of business.
Its not good to use ESPN to promotion these guys because they are to unstable and make the sport look like a chaotic disaster.
MMA live should cover the UFC, cover other events during slow periods, find up and coming prospects across the country. Cover other events when they warrent coverage. I dont think there needs to be a bias but the UFC with its quality and popularity needs to get a majority of the focus.
BTW. I dont mean ignore these other events just dont come out and to to convience everyone that X promotion is equal to the UFC.