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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The Versus network and Zuffa, LLC, parent company of the UFC and WEC, signed a new television deal in the last month, and some new details from the network's main site have emerged.
According to Ariel Helwani's story at Versus.com, the new television deal between the two parties will not only bring seven more live WEC events to the Versus network, but two UFC events as well.
The WEC's first event of 2010 airs on January 10th, featuring the return of featherweight superstar Urijah Faber in a bout with Raphael Assuncao and a WEC Lightweight Title unification bout between Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson.
There is no word on when the UFC will air their first event on the network, but it would be the first UFC event on a sports-oriented cable network.
Penick's Analysis: With the recent acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, which owns Versus, the talk is that they are looking to turn Versus into a competitor of ESPN as a full-fledged sports network under the NBC Sports banner. If that's the case, the UFC could simply be looking to get in on what could be an increased viewership for the network. In Helwani's article, he mentions that the immediate goal of continued MMA presence on the network is to bring in a younger generation of viewers, as the average Versus viewer is 45 years old. The UFC on Versus will bring in a lot more viewers than the WEC, but it could also work toward bringing a merger of some of the WEC talent into the UFC late in the year.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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