MMA Live NOT headed to ESPN after all…
By Jim Murphy August 14th, 2008Sorry MMA fans…ESPN today said that they don’t have a spare half hour on their schedule of poker, aerobic competitions, celebrity car auctions and interminable programs featuring their catch phrase chattering talking heads that pass for journalists to air MMA Live on broadcast TV:
“MMA Live” won’t be heading to ESPN’s airwaves, after all. (Not anytime soon, anyway.)
Last week UFC lightweight contender and “MMA Live” analyst Kenny Florian told TAGG Radio, MMAjunkie.com’s official radio partner, that ESPN’s weekly web-based MMA news show was “very, very close” to finalizing a deal that would but the program on ESPN or ESPN2.
However, an ESPN spokesman today said the show will remain a web-only offering.
Although the company is pleased with the initial success of “MMA Live,” there are no plans for the show to air on ESPN or ESPN2, as Florian predicted.
“Like the rest of us, our co-host and analyst Kenny Florian is very excited about ‘MMA Live’ — the quality of the show, its hosts and the audience that it is building,” ESPN spokeman Paul Melvin today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “We are very energized about the place ‘MMA Live’ has in our growing ‘Original Digital’ lineup on ESPN.com, but there are no current plans for it to appear on any ESPN television networks in the future.”
“MMA Live,” which debuted earlier this summer with host Jon Anik and MMA writer Franklin McNeil and Florian as analysts, has gained a solid following with MMA fans. The studio show had been lauded for slick production values and timely fight footage, including clips from the UFC and WEC.
The moral of the story? Get your MMA news from outlets that care about the sport–this one, for example–and leave ESPN to the jock sniffers, catch phrase chattering ‘talent’ and poker players…you could send them an email, but at the moment they’re too busy playing kissy-face with Michael Phelps to notice….
August 14th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Who is Micheal Phelps?
August 14th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I thought he was a jobber from Bill Watts’ old Mid South Wrestling territory but I was wrong. I don’t know who he is but ESPN’s is just fawning over him. He participates in some sport where you have to shave your body from head to toe. He must have some compromising photos of ESPN execs that he’s blackmailing them with because he doesn’t seem to have ever fought anyone. I checked BoxRec and Sherdog, no trace of him competing in MMA or boxing. In any case, ESPN needs to get their head in the game–don’t they realize that the NHL season starts in like six weeks? If they’re not going to cover MMA like they should they should be featuring real athletes like Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev….
August 14th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Come to think of it, we may have to start a hockey website to pick up the slack from ESPN. Don’t they realize that we Americans need our Montreal Canadians coverage??
August 14th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
ESPN likes young strapping shaved men splashing around in the water together.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Yeah…i think it was Micheal Phillips from Jerry Jarrett’s old territory that you were thinking of..he was twice as ugly and had half the gold that Phelp’s does. Come to think of it, he didnt have any gold..he was a mark turned jabroni, and laid down for Barry Horowitz and Koko B Ware on a nightly basis!!! LMAO
In response to the hockey comment…YES WE DO NEED OUR MONTREAL CANADIENS coverage. Allons Les habitants!!!