Well, as many of you know it’s official. EliteXC and CBS have signed a multi year television deal that will bring four two hour fight nights to the network this year. We’re talking about Saturday Night Fights here, folks. The first event will take place on May 31, 2008 and will headline Kimbo Slice ( AKA Kevin Ferguson ) against a still unknown challenger as well as an EliteXC Middleweight Championship bout between champion Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith, both of whom are former UFC fighters. Speaking of the UFC. .

Is it possible that Dana White and the UFC’s stranglehold on the sport of MMA may be in trouble right now?

Failed UFC negotiations with CBS

It is well known that CBS and the UFC have had talks over forming a partnership for some time now. There’s no doubt that the UFC was certainly the network’s first choice. But word has it that there were some disputes over control of the product that simply couldn’t be rectified. Of course, it’s very important to note that we don’t know what these disputes were, so we don’t have an opinion on whether the UFC was right or not in turning their back on the deal.

And that’s important, as MMA’s first real foray onto network national television should sell the product appropriately. In other words, this isn’t professional wrestling.

But what we do know is that Senior Executive Vice President of CBS Primetime, Kelly Kahl, was the one saying, “We're excited to introduce broadcast television viewers to America's fastest growing sport with this prime time event," not Dana White.

Big mistake by the UFC? Again, hard to say.

Remember that the UFC’s deal with Spike—particularly in regard to that TUF 1 fight between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin—has been given a lot of credit for the surge in MMA’s popularity. Imagine what CBS could do then. Yes, the UFC clearly has the best fighters in the world and is the top MMA brand right now. In fact, much of the less informed public still actually calls the sport ultimate fighting rather than mixed martial arts. However, this television deal may signify that the UFC must change their method of dealing with other organizations, networks, and fighters if they hope to stay on top. With the increased exposure that CBS will offer, MMA fighters no longer will have to sign with the UFC in order to get their name out there and make big money (continued down the page).

Think of the heavyweight free agent fighters out there that this may impact. Can anyone say Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Fedor Emelianenko, and Randy Couture ( depending on how you view the Natural’s situation )?

Said another way, the PRIDE Fighting Championships once had the fighters to rival the UFC in terms of talent. However, they failed because of a lack of television. EliteXC does not have the same caliber of fighter that the UFC has right now.

But they’ve got the television deal. Thus, the fighters may be coming.

In the end, the UFC is still on top and Dana White and the Fertittas are very savvy businessmen. But to stay on top it seems that they may have to change some things. EliteXC is now in a position where they have some power, and the UFC hasn’t seen that from a competitor in a long time.

Might this cause the UFC to work with other organizations, something that EliteXC has been doing since its inception (they’ll be doing it again on March 29th with Strikeforce)? Further, might it change something else in the way they deal?

We’ll see.

Fighter Biographies

Royce Gracie Biography and Fighting Information

Dan Henderson Biography and Fighting Information

Chuck Liddell Biography and Fighting Information

Lyoto Machida Biography and Fighting Information

References

Sherdog

Urban Dictionary

Wikipedia