THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP® HITS FRENCH TV
-- Ultimate Fighting Championship
For Immediate Release:
February 18, 2008
UFC® Inks New Deal With RTL9
Las Vegas, NV (USA) --The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization has reached a new agreement with AB Groupe’s RTL9 to bring the world’s most exciting sport to over 14 million French-language homes across 38 countries and territories on two continents, Europe and Africa.
With the freshly inked deal, UFC programming is now available in France for the first time, allowing French sports fans the chance to see the greatest fighters in the world compete inside the ultimate proving ground, the UFC OctagonTM.
In addition to enjoying every major event and fight from North America and Europe, French MMA fans have been getting a weekly dose of adrenaline drenched UFC action at 11pm, Wednesdays, with UFC® Unleashed™.
Over 150,000 French fight fans have been tuning into UFC Unleashed since its RTL9 premiere in December 2008.
“I’m very excited that the UFC has hit the RTL9 airwaves and that from here on in, French and French-speaking mixed martial arts fans won’t miss out on any of the action from inside the Octagon,” said Dana White, UFC President. “As well as UFC Unleashed, fans also get to see the biggest and best events in all of combat sports. Next up is UFC 95 from London - which is a completely stacked card featuring some of the most exciting talents in the UFC.”
In addition to France, other territories covered in the agreement are DOM TOM, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Saint Pierre, St. Miquelon Island, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Martinique, La Reunion, Wallis and Futuna Islands, New Caledonia, Mayotte and French Polynesia.
And, in French-speaking Africa: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Zaire.
For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.
About The Ultimate Fighting Championship®
The Ultimate Fighting Championship® is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa™, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Bell ExpressVU, SaskTel Max™, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Viewers Choice, and WOWOW in Japan, and Premiere Combate and SporTV in Brazil, and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world.
Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa™, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC or other respective owners.