UFC seals rights extension with ESPN’s UK channel

Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter, has agreed a one-year rights extension with UK pay-television broadcaster ESPN.

Under the deal, which will run until August 2013, ESPN has the live rights for all main live UFC events, including all ‘Fight Nights’ that are shown on US pay-per-view television.

The new agreement is an extension of a four-year deal, from 2009-12.

ESPN broadcast more than 250 hours of UFC coverage and MMA-related programming over the past year.

In February, UFC president Dana White said that the UK television market was “a very tough place to navigate.”