When Dana White announces his future intention to make a big announcement, it’s sort of like your girlfriend saying, ‘Can I ask you something?’ You have no idea what’s coming. It could be something awesome and big, like ‘What would you think about having a threesome with the hot German girl who lives next door?’ or it could be something like, ‘Do you think I should get bangs?’ You just never know, but the endless possibilities make the moment of anticipation that much more exciting.
According to a recent report from The Sun, Friday’s Dana White announcement will be slightly more hairstyle than it is threesome, at least for those of us in the US of A. The UK news outlet reports that the UFC will announce a deal with the newly formed UK ESPN channel to broadcast events across the pond, essentially replacing the deal the UFC had with the now-defunct Setanta Sports. The UK ESPN channel is reportedly set to launch on August 3, and they could turn right around and broadcast UFC 101 on August 8.
So does this qualify as big news even for those of us in the US? Yeah, it sort of does, if only because it signals a growing recognition on ESPN’s part that the UFC is for real. That’s quite a departure from the days when you (by which I mean me) could (and did) write an email to ESPN asking why they were pretending like MMA didn’t exist, and then get a response telling you all about when you could watch karate demos and old kickboxing events at 4 am. It also suggests that ESPN is willing to keep covering MMA, or at least the UFC, even now that UFC 100 is in the books.
It may not be as huge as a Fedor signing would be, but The Sun also suggests that White may announce deals to bring back Vitor Belfort and another fighter who shall not be named until he actually fucking does something. So maybe what this announcement lacks in pure mind-blowingness it could make up for with variety. Sort of like your girlfriend asking if she should get bangs and also pick up some beer and a bucket of chicken on her way home from the salon. And before you ask, Vitor is the beer in this extended metaphor. Because you already have a frozen pizza on hand in case of emergencies.
.gif "IP Gear")
