Setanta Sports loses rights to UFC
Troubled pay TV channel Setanta Sports has lost the rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) and now is rumoured to be edging closer to administration.
The announcement was made by UFC this morning and follows the loss of TV rights to both English and Scottish premier league games, some of which have now been picked up by ESPN who are in the running (along with cable TV channel, Bravo) to win the rights to broadcast upcoming UFC events.
In a statement posted on the UFC website this morning, UFC UK Division President Marshall Zelaznik said: “Throughout the last few weeks we have been kept informed of the situation at Setanta and therefore we are in a position to ensure our UK and Eire fans will not miss any of this summer’s huge UFC events, commencing with UFC 100 in July.”
Certainly it will quite a coup for whoever is given the rights to show to UFC 100 which will feature the much anticipated rematch between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. Bravo seems to the favourite, at least in my eyes, given it’s prior involvement with the UFC and it’s reputation as basically the British version of Spike TV in the US, which caters to a mostly male demographic and, like Bravo, shows the UFC reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter” as well as TNA Wrestling.
UFC ended their statement by saying UK fans would not miss any of the upcoming UFC events, with Setanta’s successor to be announced soon.
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