UFC and FOX officials believe Saturday's one-fight TV card, UFC on FOX, is the best introduction to an audience that may not be familiar with mixed martial arts.

Of course, those familiar with the sport and the UFC's product are conditioned to watch major events with a four- or five-fight main card on pay-per-view and a two-fight Spike TV card bolstered by preliminary-card bouts on Facebook.

Among the big changes on the horizon when the UFC's partnership with FOX formally begins in January 2012 is a 90-minute timeslot for major events broadcast on the network. FOX Sports co-president Eric Shanks believes the main cards for those events will expand to two or three fights, he today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), rather than the one we get this weekend.

"We definitely think the future broadcasts are going to be longer," he said. "Talking to the UFC guys, Dana (White) and Lorenzo (Fertitta), and also talking to our own affiliates, we believe believe probably the sweet spot for broadcasts is an hour-and-a-half to let you get in two, maybe three fights.

"Not every fight that's going to be on FOX is going to be a championship fight, even though I've told Dana and Lorenzo I wouldn't mind."

UFC CEO Fertitta has said the decision to showcase only the upcoming heavyweight title fight between champ Cain Velasquez (9-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Junior Dos Santos (13-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) represents a significant investment from the promotion in its network future. By airing for free a fight that likely would have generated hundreds of thousands of pay-per-view buys and millions of dollars in revenue, the UFC is demonstrating its commitment to taking the sport mainstream.

Shanks said FOX, which takes over when Spike TV's live-events deal expires at year's end, is mirroring that commitment by focusing all the attention on the big boys of the UFC. Saturday's event, which is a teaser show for next year's full move to the network, takes place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

"We just wanted to make sure that we put the spotlight 100 percent on the heavyweight championship of the world," he said. "It's the first time a heavyweight championship has been on broadcast television in, what is it, 26 years or something like that?

"It's an incredible night, and we just want to make sure we have the time to tell the story about this one particular fight. But going forward, you can look forward to longer fight nights on FOX."

Today, executives also revealed that FOX-owned affiliates FUEL TV and FX will pick up where Spike TV and Facebook soon will leave off in airing preliminary-card fights. Additionally, events will be bookended by pre- and post-event coverage. UFC programming will occupy a whopping 25 percent of FUEL TV's airtime, or 2,000 hours, as FUEL TV general manager George Greenberg noted.

Greenberg also said a two-hour preliminary-card broadcast will head to FX while a three-hour broadcast will air on FUEL TV for big cards.

"So depending upon which broadcast entity gets it, the time will expand or contract appropriately," he said.

However, all prelims will be televised in some form once the FOX deal kicks off. Currently, many fights end up on Facebook, but the social-networking site won't be used for live streams beginning in 2012.

Four major events are targeted for FOX in 2012 with six FX "UFC Fight Nights" and 26 live broadcasts as part of the new format of "The Ultimate Fighter," which also airs on FX.

UFC president Dana White doesn't anticipate a change in the format of a typical event.

"No, I think this thing is a work in progress," he said. "To figure out how to pull this thing off on network TV, make it work for them and work for us and the fans, we've got to figure this thing out.

"But we will. We're going to get this first one behind us. The deal doesn't start until January, so we've got plenty of time to get in there to figure this whole thing out. Listen, no matter what, you know we're going to deliver. We're on FOX, the biggest, baddest network in the country, and these fights are going to be free, whether there's one fight or there's 12 fights. It's free.

"You're going to have a big free fight on FOX. We couldn't ask for anything more. This is like a dream come true. So no matter how many fights it is, it's a damn good thing."


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