YORBA LINDA, California — When UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez steps into the cage on Saturday to defend his title against Junior dos Santos, the FOX cameras will be rolling. And UFC president Dana White calls this the greatest milestone of his tenure.
“In 10 years, we have had tons of milestones,” said White, during a conference call Wednesday. “This, however, is the biggest. We are ready for primetime.”
FOX Sports will present its coverage of the main event in a one-hour primetime special: UFC on FOX: Live Heavyweight Championship Fight: Velasquez vs. dos Santos at 6 p.m. from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. This presentation marks the first UFC event ever televised by a broadcast television network.
UFC and FOX officials realize new viewers will be watching so the programming will include “more explanations” than viewers would normally get during a PPV telecast.
When Sunday morning rolls around, officials from both organizations are interested to see the ratings.
“It’s very important to me,” said White. “I won’t make predictions, but it’s important. I’m hoping for a big one. I’m looking for good ratings.”
David Hills, FOX Sports Media Group chairman, said they will thoroughly analyze all the ratings, including male vs. female, age brackets and total households.
“In terms of TV and sports, this is watershed,” said Hill. “We have aspirations and hopes, but we do not rattle the cages of the rating gods. We do, however, expect to be pleasantly surprised Sunday morning.”
QUICK NOTES
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who Velasquez beat for the title a year ago, joins FOX Sports’ pre-fight coverage as an analyst, while UFC commentator Joe Rogan provides interviews as the final pre-fight moments count down.
Once the battle begins, Rogan and long-time UFC announcer Mike Goldberg have the call.
In the lead-up to the main event on FOX, FUEL TV inaugurates its unprecedented UFC programming with four and a half hours of Velasquez-Dos Santos coverage beginning Nov. 11 with UFC VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS WEIGH-IN LIVE.
FUEL TV’s live programming sandwiches FOX’s live fight coverage, beginning with UFC ON FUEL TV: VELASQUEZ VS. DOS SANTOS PRE-FIGHT SPECIAL LIVE, hosted by Jay Glazer and with UFC title contender Kenny Florian serving as an analyst. UFC light-heavyweight Stephan Bonnar will report backstage and interview fighters in attendance.
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