aktick

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=6501

Not sure if this has been discussed, or if it's TV Talk or Sports, but kind of interesting either way.

Maybe HBO's boxing people (or the boxing industry in general) should wake up and realize UFC is all about marketing, something they do very little of with their sport.

Deftones

That's interesting. We'd probably get the kind of matches that we see on the Spike TV events.

I'm all for it. But, airing it at midnight doesn't seem to be a good way to go. As long as they get it in HD, that would be the key.

Nesbit

UFC will have the cameras for it. They are running HD events starting next month.

Deftones

I know they will. But that doesn't mean HBO will carry it in HD.

BravesMG

Holy cow. If it happens, I'm a new HBO subscriber.

Red Dog

How about topless card girls then?

DRG

Cool news, but the discussion among the HBO execs about UFC "tarnishing" boxing is ridiculous.

Birrman54

yea that sounded like a bunch of assholes completely out of touch with the current situation

Deftones

Their attitude is why Boxing has essentially fallen off of the face of the map.

Bill Needle

I thought the concern about the UFC, let alone anything, being able to tarnish boxing was funny. Talk about spitting in the ocean. The fact that these guys can't see that boxing has been a cesspool for decades really shows how clueless you can be and still be a sports broadcast president.

FantasticVSDoom

Well, I just hope they get better annoucers than the douche bags HBO has for boxing...If I have to hear Merchant chatting about the UFC, I will cut my ears off.

Deftones

I don't see why they can't get Rogan and that other guy to do them. Even if there was an event once a month, that's still not that much work.

saoirse

I love boxing, but also MMA, especially Pride. This is good news, but does this mean it's live or taped?

clckworang

Wow, this is great news! This could be the start of a beautiful friendship. It would be incredible if HBO were to get behind its UFC events like it does with its boxing events. And it will certainly get better ratings than the boxing telecasts. I think those comments dogging UFC are kinda silly -- but I understand it. Especially when UFC first started, it was pretty rough and sometimes a bit ugly to watch. But it's come a long way since then. People are slowly starting to give the sport the respect it deserves, but there still -- obviously -- are some holdouts. Once the viewers flock to it though, I'll bet he'll change his mind pretty quickly.

warcp

Sounds like a reaction to Showtime starting up their new MMA league.

spainlinx0

UFC tarnishing boxing?

zuffy

Great news but suck for me. I don't have HBO and don't plan on getting it again.

clckworang

I didn't hear about this. What's the deal here? Any news on participants, frequency of events, etc.?

Slumbering Fist

This quote from that article says it all: Seriously ignorant, trying to lump together MMA, pro-wrestling (which isnt even a true sport), and boxing. I realize MMA's ugly roots and white twenty-something marketing have contributed a great deal to the general sport audience and old fogey's not accepting it. But, just look at the last few years and buy a freaking clue.

The only tarnish MMA puts on boxing is stealing its audience. This past year or two of boxing has seen a severe lack of new talent, questionable decisions, and snoozer "main events." Its no wonder fans of combat sports have been looking elsewhere. There is more than enough room for both MMA and boxing. One does have a storied history, granted, the other does not. But that doesnt mean people/networks cannot try something new and fans can enjoy both.

Also, this deal pretty much solifies that the now Zuffa owned WEC will show up on the Versus network. Previously there was some question if Zuffa would get the WEC on HBO or Versus. With UFC on HBO, looks like that Versus to WEC deal is all but golden.

xx2000xx

Don't quote me on this, but I think there will be 4 events this year and 4 next year with the option to add more next year. I'm pretty sure they signed up for 3 years working with BJ Penn's brother, who ran good events in Hawaii called Rumble On The Rock. They have an excellent card coming up on Feb 10th.

ELITE XTREME COMBAT: FEBRUARY 10, 2007 ON SHOWTIME
Southaven, Mississippi (near Memphis, Tennessee)

Main Card Bouts:
-Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie
-David Loiseau vs. Joey Villasenor
-Antonio Silva vs. Wes "Cabbage" Correira
-Charles Bennett vs. K.J. Noons
-Gina Carano vs. TBA

Preliminary Bouts:
-Javier Vazquez vs. Adriano Periera
-Mike Pyle vs. Ross Ebanez
-John Shackelford vs. Edson Berto
-Bo Cantrell vs. Tim Persey
-Riki Fukuda vs. Seth Kleinbeck

Under card looks pretty shitty with Pyle the only guy I know, but Loiseau vs Joey should be excellent and Shamrock vs Gracie should be interesting. And I'm shocked Bennett is out of Jail, forgot what he did but he should have been locked up for a long ass time.

Mordred

Man you guys sure don't read very closely. He doesn't say that UFC is tarnishing boxing, he said he's afraid UFC will tarnish HBO boxing. For better or worse, HBO has put a lot of money into it and it's obvious they want to be the go-to network for non-PPV boxing matches. He doesn't want the hardcore boxing fans (who he's afraid don't like UFC I guess) to drop HBO in favor of Showtime.

Personally I don't think he has a thing to be worried about (this isn't professional wrestling!) and UFC should do very well alongside HBO's regular Boxing programming.

Deftones

I think you are wrong, though. Why bring up tarnishing HBO boxing, then bring up boxing names from the past when HBO wasn't even a thought in someone's head? To me, it reads as MMA tarnishes boxing's reputation overall.

sven

Wow....they couldnt come up with a better name than that? Xtreme HAHAA

clckworang

That's very cool. I agree that the undercard looks a little underwhelming, but there looks to be some interesting main card matchups. Hell, I'll watch any non-PPV MMA card that I can. I have Showtime (and HBO for that matter) so these would all be "free" for me, in a manner of speaking. It's so nice to see MMA finally getting greater exposure, regardless of some disparaging comments.

Slumbering Fist

Well, I think, to them the only boxing that matters is HBO boxing, so that is The Boxing World. And they may act high minded about taking on boxing because of respect for its history, but truth was, they did it because of money. The major networks owned the team sports, but boxing was a sport that was more star-based, promoter controlled, and easy to translate into ppv/exclusive cable broadcast dollars.

I think their hesitency is just ignorance and confusion. Boxing they understand. MMA, they do not. Rather than try to wrap their heads around MMA, they debased it. It doesnt make sense any other way. Now that UFC has been beating their major boxing ppv's, they are begrudgingly being forced to accept it. And, make no mistake, just like with boxing, they are getting into it because of ca$h.

So long as they continue to deliver the same regular boxing cards, they will lose no one. Plain and simple. What do they think, carrying MMA will lead their boxing fans to boycott or something? That is just dumb. They do not show boxing every weekend, sometimes just once a month, so its pretty clear that there is room on the schedule. The midnight timing makes me think these will end up being UFC rebroadcasts, not live events. Though, I hope its the latter because they have too many ppv's as it is and it would be nice to get a live card on HBO which was already taking up space on my cable bill.