MMA Blog: Matt Brown

UFC® RETURNS TO TELEVISION IN JAPAN

10/13/2008 4:29:52 PM

I'm normally not a fan of just passing along a press release without any commentary, but I'm sure you all realize how big this could be. Read below!

Las Vegas, NV (USA) -- Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) brand today announced that UFC will return to television in Japan with a new two-year deal with WOWOW.

WOWOW will telecast all UFC pay-per-view events starting with UFC 89: BISPING vs. LEBEN taking place live from National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK. The UFC 89 live card will begin at 8pm GMT in England and will telecast on WOWOW following a short delay at 12 Midnight JST.

“The Japanese market has always been important to the UFC, and we want to bring MMA and all of its biggest stars back to Japan,” said Dana White, UFC President. “We are thrilled to be back with WOWOW.”

“WOWOW is extremely pleased to announce that UFC is back on WOWOW, starting with the UFC 89 event in Birmingham, UK,” said Mr. Kazuyuki Omura, Chief Producer, WOWOW. “The UFC will telecast in High Definition on WOWOW’s popular “Timely-on-Air” format, a limited delay broadcast adjusting the airtime to a time that will be convenient for the sports fans in Japan. After airing over 50 UFC shows from 2001 to 2007, we are excited to once again provide our subscribers with the most prominent mixed martial arts program in the world.”

The highly-popular UFC events, featuring the world’s most recognizable mixed martial arts fighters is one of the fastest growing sporting events in history. Based in Las Vegas, Nev. (USA), UFC is entering its fifteenth year of operation as a professional mixed martial arts organization. The UFC has successfully expanded into the United Kingdom and Europe, and has plans underway to establish operations globally.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Bell ExpressVU, SaskTel Max™, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Viewers Choice, and WOWOW in Japan, and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.

Ultimate Fighting Championship, Ultimate Fighting, UFC, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa™, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC or other respective owners.

About WOWOW

Established as the first private satellite broadcasting company in 1984, WOWOW became Japan's first commercial satellite television broadcaster in April 1991. With viewership of more than 2.4 million, WOWOW presents a full spectrum of entertainment programming, such as overseas and original TV shows, sports and music.

Press Contact:

Jennifer Wenk

Director of Public Relations

Zuffa, LLC

Ultimate Fighting Championship

702.221.4790 office

702.635.0995 cell

jwenk@ufc.com

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