Press Release:

UFC® Events to Live Broadcast on China’s Leading Sports Media Portal Starting with UFC 109

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Hundreds of millions of sports fans in China will now have the opportunity to see UFC superstars like Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre and "Minotauro" Nogueira fight in the UFC® Octagon™.  The Ultimate Fighting Championship organization today announced it has inked a deal with one of the country’s largest web portals, Sohu.com to present UFC pay per view events online. Named the official web partner of the UFC in China, Sohu.com will live broadcast UFC events starting with UFC 109: RELENTLESS in February.

"China is one of the gateways to building UFC into the biggest sport in the world," said Dana White, UFC President.  "China is the cradle of martial arts, many of the styles that you see in the UFC were born in this country.  With Sohu.com as our web partner, we look forward to presenting world class fights and to bringing the great tradition of martial arts back to its homeland in China." 

SBN coverage of UFC 109: Relentless

Larry Jin, Director of Sports, Sohu.com said, "SOHU Kungfu channel is made to comprehensively report and follow-up the many Kungfu fighting related events both in China and overseas. We are looking forward to working with the UFC to create a stronger relationship and to seeing Chinese warriors in the Octagon."

Sohu.com will present UFC 109: RELENTLESS Saturday, February 6 live from Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The event pits five-time UFC World Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture vs. UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in the main event. UFC 109 also features a card loaded with action packed match-ups such as Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen, Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago, Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller, Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg, Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz, Melvin Guillard vs. Ronys Torres, Phillipe Nover vs. Robert Emerson, Brian Stann vs. Phil Davis, Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchscherer and Mostapha Al Turk vs. Rolles Gracie.

Sohu.com, Inc., (SOHU), is a leading online brand in China. Services provided by the company include news, search, e-mail, games and wireless messaging. Sohu.com was the official web partner for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and is also the official partner of the NBA, ESPN, Adidas and Sports Illustrated in China.

UFC programming debuted in China last summer on Inner Mongolia Television (NMTV), a network broadcast station available in 60 million households, with the potential to reach 240 million viewers throughout all the provinces.

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com, UK.UFC.com, GERMANY.UFC.com, UFCJapan.jp or UFCEspanol.com.

If the UFC wants to become the largest sport(league) in the world.  They definitely needed to get this done.  The question is how long will it take, or will they ever grasp a firm foothold on this part of the world?