ESPN.com published the second edition of its online mixed martial arts news show, MMA Live, this past Thursday. Though the show briefly touched on the three International Fight League championship bouts from Mohegan Sun and the results from the Sengoku event, it mainly focused on UFC oriented news.
As MMAPayout.com previously reported, the UFC lobbied for the show to be exclusively about the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and excluding the larger MMA world. The true test of the show’s willingness to digress in coverage from the industry giant, UFC, will come this week when they will be tasked with recapping UFC 84 and previewing the network debut of EliteXC on CBS.
Many non-UFC entities within the sport have expressed their delight that the world’s largest sports network is testing the waters on an MMA show that could potentially transition to television. Given overwhelming dominance of ESPN in sports news, the network is effectively creating a spotlight in the dark tunnel of MMA, where the competition is cast in the shadows of the UFC.
By powering up that spotlight, and potentially shining it on the lesser known promotions, ESPN is quickly becoming a major player in the world of MMA.
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