http://mmamania.com/2009/07/31/dana-whi ... more-14283UFC President Dana White will be holding a special conference call today (July 31) at 2pm ET to discuss all the latest news and developments within the Las Vegas-based promotion.
And there’s certainly a lot to talk about.
First order of business is of course the fall of Affliction MMA — who quickly returned to the UFC as a talent sponsor after closing up shop, bringing some leftover fighter contracts with them.
Also on tap is the recent UK television deal with sports network giant ESPN, who will now broadcast UFC events and programming throughout the UK and Ireland.
And let’s not forget about the return of a certain “Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” as former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz is expected to be announced back into the fold.
Who knows, maybe we’ll even get a few surprises along the way.
To help you stay current with all the latest happenings, we’ll be live blogging the media call and keep you posted on breaking news just as soon as we get it, so be sure to refresh often.
Let’s get on with it.
2:05pm: Came to the table willing to give up anything except co-promotion to sign Fedor Emelianenko. Offered “amazing” deal that he won’t see elsewhere but M-1 turned it down.
2:07: Vitor Belfort is signed and will fight Rich Franklin in Dallas at UFC 103 due to fan apathy towards Franklin vs. Dan Henderson.
2:08: Belfort vs. Franklin will be contested at light heavyweight.
2:09: ESPN to carry UFC programming in high definition for UK and Ireland.
2:10: Tito Ortiz is back and will finish his career in the UFC — plans to fight before the year’s end, possibly against Mark Coleman.
2:15: Dan Henderson is next in line for Anderson’s Silva belt, Demian Maia not far behind.
2:20: Some uninteresting questions followed by some serious UFC butt-smooching.
2:25: Dana slams the sport of boxing.
2:30: UFC shooting for Vancouver in 2010.
2:33: If co-promotion was off the table, Fedor would be in the UFC right now.
2:35: UFC has no interest in Tim Sylvia or Andrei Arlovski.
2:38: No hard feelings towards Affliction and Atencio.
2:40: Dana still working on a deal that will “change the UFC forever.”
2:50: Ten minutes of Dana screaming about the Fedor deal.
2:55: More Tito talk. Dana and Tito are in a good place according to them. Tito picked the UFC because he would have smashed Babalu and Frank Shamrock in Strikeforce anyway.
3:00: Tito won’t give specifics but will fight in the UFC for the rest of his career, thinks Coleman would be a good test.
3:05: Call ends with Dana and Tito being giggly.
