This was something else. Watch as two men rapidly grow to dislike one another over the course of 15 minutes:
And now Meltzer is reporting (paid account required) that UFC has split from its former Canadian partner, Sportsnet (home of WWE) and signed a deal with TSN:
After negotiations between UFC and its current broadcast partner, Sportsnet 360, fell through, UFC has apparently signed with The Sports Network (TSN), the equivalent to ESPN, in Canada.
No announcement has been made, but a memo sent by TSN listed that TSN 1 would be airing UFC Fight Night on 1/18 live.
TSN 4 and TSN 5 will be airing extensive UFC programming on 1/3. TSn 4 will also be airing the Alexander Gustafsson vs. Anthony Johnson fight that airs in the U.S. on FOX, as well as the prelims from UFC 182 and UFC 183.
I don't think the two things are related in any way, but I've already had one friend suggest that the timing of a UFC fighter having/being a "difficult" interview on a TSN show might not be a coincidence, that it was designed to go viral and timed to align with the new deal. Again, I don't buy this - but it saved me from having to start TWO threads that you don't care about.
There are five TSN channels. This is a recent thing, starting just a few months ago (before, there was only TSN and TSN2). It was intended as a way to allow for greater regional coverage of various things, splitting regional hockey rights between the different channels, but then TSN lost the national broadcast rights for hockey not that long after they announced their expansion to five channels was coming.
Sportsnet, for what it's worth, has had five plus channels for quite some time. They've always been branded as regional channels, with Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific, along with their 'extra' channel Sportsnet One and the WWE home channel Sportsnet 360 (formerly The Score).
Originally posted by OliverI'm surprised Landsberg is still on TV. I've always thought of him as a smarmy prick. That show's been on since forever.
I've never seen this guy before -- would never make a point of watching him. Awesomely good job by Punk of counter-managing the guy! That's some beautiful interview poise right there! (I wish I could so stay so chill dealing with those kinds of dicks.)
That guy was kind of a douche, but it was entertaining. He definitely has a point about Punk's being there to talk about the UFC while being almost a year away from having a first fight. As an interviewer, he needs to fill the time with talk about what Punk knows and calling him out on going from the 'fake fights' to the real fights seems logical to talk about.
As much as I am not a fan of his, I gotta admit that Punk handled himself really well there, under the circumstances. I loved the few times he gave answers that completely sidestepped the shitty questions. It really show how well he can think on his own without a script to get his talking points across.
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