Weird.
In an era where professional boxing has been relegated exclusively to cable, I’m quite surprised to see MMA on a major network. I mean I’m not objecting, I like MMA (and mourned the loss of regular weekly programming of Strikeforce events on Showtime, even if they were mostly replays), but it’s just a bit odd to see it not on cable-only channels.
I want spammy links. 
Sorry to disappoint. 
I actually want to talk about it.
Doubt I’ll get much action around here frankly, but hey, just in case anyone’s interested, I’ll talk about it with ya.
Is there a question here, though? I’m glad to be able to get MMA for free in a legally approved manner. It should also grow the fan base. Getting that contract really shows the growth in the past ten years. It’s phenomenal.
Was there supposed to be a question?
I agree, I like that it’s on free broadcast TV. It was just surprising to me. Not that Saturday night is a great time slot, but it beats the hell out of reruns of COPS.
I can’t really comment on the free TV aspects of it. But I’ve really gotten in the UFC over the last couple of years. So not really knowledgeable about it yet. In fact I only just encountered the term D’arce choke for the first time in a submissions special on the weekend.
My interest has in part been spurred by a couple of friends of mine being into in a big way, one bloke in particular just recently achieved his black belt in Brazilian Ju Jitisu. I keep joking with him about when we will see his UFC debut. [No he won’t actually be competing, He’s mid 40’s and does it mainly for fitness and as a hobby]
I went to me first live event (just a local MMA event - not UFC) last year, and that was a lot of fun. There was a UFC locally earlier in the year, but the ticket price was just extraordinary, and I couldn’t justify the cost.
How long have you been an MMA fan for DCnDC?
There’s still an occasional boxing match on network television, but it’s difficult to stage a fight worth watching for the money the networks could afford to pay. MMA fighters make nearly nothing compared to boxers, so it’s all gold for the promoters.
I’ve enjoyed the sport since some of those first UFC events back in the early 90s.
I wouldn’t say that I’m very deep into it, I don’t really know that much about the fighters, but I enjoy watching the fights. As for current or recent fighters, I’m most familiar with the Strikeforce stable because that’s what I’ve watched every week for the last couple of years, before it died.
My main problem with Fox’s UFC coverage is, it tends to run over the announced time by quite a bit - IIRC, I padded my DVR to stop recording the most recent Fox show 15 minutes later than advertised, and I still missed the final round of the main event.
I think this stems from Fox’s first UFC show, which I think had only one fight - which lasted about two minutes, followed by something like 20 minutes of post-match filler.
I usually give sporting events at least 30 minutes extra to record, and that doesn’t always do it. But I’d prefer they run over than cut off the broadcast.
Prior to Fox, CBS used to show MMA on occasion. I forget which promotion they were from, but I don’t think it was UFC.
It was Elite XC, which folded after Kimbo Slice was beaten by someone almost no one had heard of. The promotion was using the people who weren’t in Bellator, which is far enough down that I can’t be bothered to keep track.