Bravo, the UK’s leading men’s entertainment channel, has acquired the live UK rights to screen UFC 51 from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, on Sunday 6th February 2005. The broadcast will commence at 2100 GMT and will feature one of UFC’s greatest ever line-ups including Tito Ortiz v Vitor Belfort, UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, and UFC Middleweight Championship between Evan Tanner and David Terrell. UFC 51 will form part of Big Fight February, a month of exclusive programming on Bravo dedicated to Mixed Martial Arts and boxing that also includes a 15-part commission on the rise of white collar boxing.
Bravo’s agreement with the UFC brand also sees the broadcaster acquire an additional 11 hours of first-run UFC programming, including UFC events 48 to 50, Ultimate Knockouts, Ultimate Submissions and Ultimate Ken Shamrock, a documentary profile of one of the Octagon’s legends. In August 2004, Bravo acquired 18 hours of UFC programming featuring nine UFC events, UFC 39-47. The agreements between Bravo and Zuffa, LLC, a Las Vegas based sports group and owner of the UFC brand, were negotiated by London agency RDA Communications.
'UFC is a great addition to our sporting stable.’ said David Clarke, Bravo Channel Editor. ‘Featuring fighters at the top of their game in a raw and adrenalin fuelled environment, the UFC brand appeals to large numbers of Bravo viewers, and our young male target audience as a whole.’
“We are delighted at the tremendous success of UFC programming on Bravo”, said Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. “Fans in the UK have a great appreciation for the sport of mixed martial arts, and we are thrilled that Bravo’s viewers have responded with great enthusiasm to UFC programming. Bravo is giving the fans what they have been asking for.”
25th January 2005
Notes:
Bravo is the UK’s ultimate entertainment destination for men, and premieres an eclectic and award-winning blend of programming covering an expanse of genres that boast the cutting edge original productions Fashanu’s Football Challenge, Booze Britain, and the gritty Street Crime UK brand.
Bravo is the home of the Emmy award-winning spy drama Alias starring Jennifer Garner, as well as the exclusive sporting home of all Brazil's World Cup 2006 Qualifying matches, and is responsible for bringing the massively successful Ultimate Fighting Championship brand of mixed martial arts to the UK.
· 5.2m Men tune into Bravo every month on average, of which 2.6m are ABC1 and 2m are 16-34's (source: Barb)
· Ultimate Fighting Championship programming reached 1.2m individuals for launch in just 4 weekends on Bravo.
· 67% of Men 16-34 , 67% of Adults 16-34 and 60% of ABC1 Men watched Bravo year to date in multi channel homes(source: Barb, 1 Jan-14 Oct'04)
· Bravo reaches more Men 16-34 than all of the Sky Sports channels (source: Barb).
Zuffa, LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand, is based in Las Vegas, NV. The UFC brand is the world’s premier mixed martial arts sports association, and presents six live pay-per-view events each year that are carried by all major cable and satellite providers in North America and in many other regions of the world. “Ultimate Fighting Championship,” “Ultimate Fighting,” “UFC,” “Submission,” “As Real As It Gets” and the Octagon cage design are registered trademarks or trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC, in the U.S., Japan and other jurisdictions. All other marks that may be referenced herein belong to their respective holders. For Ultimate up-to-date information, log on to http://www.ufc.tv/ <http://www.ufc.tv/>.