UFC 168 is on Saturday, and UFC president Dana White will be taking over the Twitter and Instagram accounts for SportsCenter during the card.
This doesn't seem like much of a huge deal on the surface, until you consider just how much White is on Fox Sports 1. He's everywhere, from Fox Sports Live, to UFC Tonight, to the numerous UFC fight cards on the network. And now, he's going to take over SportsCenter's social media accounts?
White has never hidden his agenda with the UFC – he wants it to be on the same level as the other major sports in this country. And ESPN is using that desire of White's to continue to troll Fox Sports 1. Remember when Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson guest hosted SportsCenter, just days after Donovan McNabb said he wasn't an athlete? Remember the Twitter spat over hockey coverage?
And really, I don't blame White at all. For as much good as Fox Sports 1 has done for the UFC, they're not on the same level as ESPN. Why wouldn't White want to partner with a brand that has 6.4 million Twitter followers? If just 0.1% of SportsCenter's Twitter followers are spurred to buy the PPV or a replay on Saturday because of White's tweeting, that's an extra $380,000 that will get divvied up between the UFC and cable providers – not to mention the likely coverage on SportsCenter on a day features a total of one ranked team playing in four bowl games, two top 25 college hoops games, and a slate of NBA games that features just one matchup of teams better than .500.
If you're Fox, this has to be a tad bit demoralizing. For everything they've done for White and the UFC during their two year partnership, White's constant desire for attention from ESPN must be wearing thin. It's not as if the UFC is the NFL or MLB with their hooks in several different media outlets. They're married to Fox (and the PPV model), but still want the attention of ESPN. And the sad thing is, ESPN will give the UFC the attention they want for this weekend's card – but they won't dedicate much (if any) coverage to the six cards over the next two months while Fox continues to cover the company's live events like no other network.
Comments are closed.