White tweeted the following on August 16: “You guys will know when we have a TV deal. So either SBJ jumped the gun, or he’s not ready to talk. Houston press, unite.” 

White was referring to the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily saying: ”

In what would represent a major push into the mainstream for the UFC, Fox has agreed to a deal that will see the broadcast channel air as many as four MMA events per year, according to several sources. The multiyear deal would mark the first time the UFC will have consistent airtime on a broadcast network. Fox execs refused to comment on the deal, but sources with knowledge of the negotiations said bidding had gone as high as $90M per year. The Fox deal is believed to be for seven or eight years. As part of the deal, most of the weekly programming that UFC has on Versus and Spike TV will move to FX starting in January. That includes several fight cards, plus shows like the reality series “The Ultimate Fighter.” Fox-owned Fuel also will wind up with some UFC content. But rumors that Fox will rebrand Fuel as a UFC channel are not true, sources said.

The UFC’s talks with Viacom-owned Spike ended before that. Sources said Spike ultimately passed over concern that its UFC shoulder programming stopped growing. Shows like “Unleashed,” “Knockouts” and “Countdown” averaged 1 million viewers in ’05. This year, they are averaging 492,000.

We shall see what happens. Surely there is something in the works because White did nothing to dispel that his organization is not looking to jump the Spike ship. When he tweets something that says “when we have a TV deal,” it’s easy to fill in the blanks.

Photo by Sam Baretto

“Super Channel is striving to offer Canadians programming they can’t get anywhere else and we saw an excellent opportunity in bringing live MMA to viewers from coast-to-coast and knew it would be well received,” said Sandy Perkins, Super Channel’s Vice President Programming. “We are very pleased to add SHOWTIME Sports® and STRIKEFORCE MMA to our roster with an exclusive deal and will be rounding out our Super Channel Fights! lineup. They are a great team to have in our corner.”

“Canadian fans have consistently shown a deep appreciation for MMA, so to have the opportunity to bring live STRIKEFORCE action to this market on a regular basis on an outstanding, high definition platform like Super Channel is very exciting,” said STRIKEFORCE Founder and CEO Scott Coker.

Also in action on December 19 will be 2000 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Matt “The Law” Lindland (21-6), who will take on fellow superstar Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (10-2) at middleweight.  Light heavyweight (205 pounds) star Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (5-0) and middleweight knockout artist “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-5) will each face opponents to be announced.

Le recently made a successful transition to acting and has since been touted as Hollywood’s next great martial arts action film star.  In 2009, he played supporting roles in the science fiction thriller Pandorum, co-starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster, as well as the action film Fighting, which co-stars Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard.  Next year, he will return to the silver screen in the motion picture adaptation of blockbuster video game franchise Tekken.

Le, who last month voluntarily relinquished the STRIKEFORCE middleweight belt he had claimed by dismantling MMA legend Frank Shamrock in 2008, has never lost a fight in his professional fighting career. He’s perfect in MMA, kickboxing (22-0) and Sanshou (17-0).

About Showtime Networks Inc.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2(tm), SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL(tm) XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL(tm) HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL(tm) ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

About STRIKEFORCE

STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com <http://www.strikeforce.com/> ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

About Super Channel

Super Channel is Canada’s only national pay television network, consisting of two new HD channels, four new SD channels, and Super Channel On Demand. Super Channel’s vision is to expand the Canadian premium TV experience by offering a broad range of fresh, entertaining movies, series and live events. Super Channel is owned by Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc., an Edmonton-based media company.

Super Channel is currently available on Bell TV <http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpPromo_Tv_big_picture.page?ADV=ON_CDN_EN_bigpicture_superchannel> , Shaw Direct <http://www.starchoice.com/promotions/english/superchannel/default.asp> , Rogers PersonalTV <http://www.rogers.com/web/resources/service/selectLanguageNonFlash.jsp?targetURL=%252Fweb%252FRogers.portal%253F_nfpb%253Dtrue%2526_pageLabel%253DGCT%2526template%253Dpersonal-programming%2526setLanguage%253Den%2526sub_template%253Dmovies%2526setLanguage%25> , Shaw Cable <http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServices/Television/Digital/ProgrammingPackages.htm> , Cogeco Cable <http://www.cogeco.com/en/digital_cable_tv_packages_o.html> ,  Access Communications <http://www.accesscomm.ca/> , Bell Aliant TV <https://mail.svse.net/Documents%20and%20Settings/jrebelo/Local%20Settings/AppData/Documents%20and%20Settings/Documents%20and%20Settings/jrebelo/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/Local%20Settings/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/jrebelo/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/0XK9RGYP/bellaliant.net> , Mountain Cablevision <http://www.mountaincable.net/index.php?id=6,499,0,0,1,0> , Source Cable <http://www.sourcecable.ca/> , SaskTe <https://commerce.sasktel.com/eSales/start.swe?SWECmd=InvokeMethod&SWEMethod=Linkup&SWEService=SKTL+eSales+Link+Service&ViewName=Product+Detail+-+Features+View+(eSales)&BusObject=Catalog&BusComp=Internal+Product+by+Price+List+Optional&Id=1-XOAR5&SWERF=1&SM> l, MTS <http://www.mts.ca/portal/site/mts/menuitem.c5a4913ffc7f8abaa66d2523408021a0/?vgnextoid=06b4830adc19a110VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD> , Novus <http://www.novusnow.ca/> , EastLink <http://www.eastlink.ca/cable/digitalchannels/index.asp> , Delta Cable <http://www.deltacable.com/> /Coast Cable <http://www.coastcable.com/> , TELUS <http://www2.telus.com/cgi-ebs/jsp/homepage.jsp>   and other regional providers.

Source: Mike Afromowitz/StrikeForce

Zaromskis is coming off an utter destruction of Myeon Ho Bae, winning by 0:19, first-round KO on Oct 25. The victory earned Zaromskis the 2009 DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix crown. Remarkably, it was the third consecutive time Zaromskis won a fight with a head kick in the opening round. On July 20, 2009, he defeated both Jason High (2:22) and heavily favored Hayoto Sakurai (4:03) with head kicks to win DREAM’s 170-pound tournament.

Zaromskis turned pro on Feb. 4, 2000. He fought several times for UK-based Cage Rage before joining DREAM in early 2009. Two of his three losses came against former Cage Rage British champion in Che Mills <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Mills> .

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on the premium cable television network, SHOWTIME.   Next Saturday, November 7, STRIKEFORCE will make its live debut on CBS with its “Fedor vs. Rogers” mega-fight that it is co-promoting with M-1 Global.

About STRIKEFORCE

STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com <http://www.strikeforce.com/> ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

Source: Mike Afromowitz, StrikeForce