Real life Ari Gold given credit for pushing UFC FOX deal

FOX Sports CEO David Hill, FOX Sports President Eric Shanks, UFC President Dana White, and UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta announced the story of the year, a seven-year agreement between the UFC and FOX Sports.

Among the deals key components are:

FOX will air four major UFC fight cards each year.

TUF will move from Spike to FX; during the twice-yearly seasons, FX will air every TUF fight live.

There will also be six UFC Fight Nights each year on FX.

“We will own Friday nights,” summed up Shanks. “There will be 32 total fight nights each year on FX.”

Hill gave credit for the deal to a decade of pressing by Dana and Lorenzo, and to Hollywood mega agent Ari Emmanuel for pushing behind the scenes. Emmanuel is basis for the character Ari Gold on HBO’s “Entourage” and is brother to Rahm Emmanuel. current Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama.

“There’s no yesterday in TV,” said Hill. “TV is about the next big thing. We first started talking 10 years ago. Lorenzo said something then. He said what boxing was to my generation is what UFC will be and is to the next generation. TV can’t make a sport. The people have to speak. What Dana, Frank and Lorenzo have done is taken a little niche sport, and in 10 years have made it into a mainstream sport. The key was recognizing what the people wanted. It’s the ultimate democratic thing.”